The Golani Brigade's infantrymen conducted search operations in the heart of Shejaiya, known as the Kasbah, on Tuesday evening, working with armour and engineering units, according to The Times of Israel.

Nine of the soldiers were killed in a battle in the heart of Shejaiya, one of the deadliest single encounters since troops pushed into the Strip, the report said.

Israel Defence Forces, taking to X (formally Twitter), announced the deaths of the soldiers who were killed in northern Gaza.

The Encounter

Four soldiers entered the first building cluster, which was surrounded by a courtyard and appeared to be abandoned.

During their searches, they discovered the entrance to a tunnel; however, as soon as they entered one of the buildings, terrorists from Hamas ambushed them, launching grenades, setting off an explosive device, and opening fire.

All four soldiers were hit by the explosive inside the building as gunfire continued from outside the structure, the report said.

A second group of soldiers from outside attempted to reach them at this point, but contact with the force's officer was lost. Local commanders initiated emergency procedures, fearing that the soldiers might have been taken prisoner.

Ben Bassat, who spearheaded the rescue effort, Grinberg of the 13th Battalion, and two other battalion commanders established a perimeter to protect the rescue force.

Grinberg led a flanking movement from the north, while the commander of the Golani's reconnaissance battalion made a similar move from the south, and the 53rd Battalion commander of the 188th Armoured Brigade approached the area from a different direction.

According to the report, two soldiers from the Air Force's elite Unit 669 search and rescue team were killed during this battle as they attempted to break into the compound.

At that point, Grinberg's force came under massive fire from a second building.

Troops responded, including by firing a shoulder-launched missile into the building, which appears to have detonated several other explosives inside and blown up the entire building.

Terrorists inside the buildings continued to fire on the forces during the rescue attempts. They also threw grenades and set off several more large blasts.

The military believes Hamas’s Shejaiya battalion’s command and control are largely disrupted, and the terror group is operating in the area in a less organised manner, with smaller squads of terrorists.

The military did not give an indication of how many operatives were killed in the fight. Hamas has not made any statements about the battle.

Shejaiya has long been considered one of the most highly fortified Hamas strongholds in northern Gaza.

The statement, released on Wednesday, revised a previous statement that had stated that eight people had died in the most recent one-day incident, including a lieutenant-colonel who had led a regiment in Golani.