Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari on Thursday said Israeli ground forces have completed the siege of Gaza City. They exchanged fierce gunfire with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, seizing weapons, destroying Hamas military infrastructure and killing more than 130 Hamas militants. Israeli forces are also using various devices to destroy underground tunnels built by Hamas and carried out air strikes and shelling in the Gaza city center.

A spokesman for the Al-Qassam brigades, Hamas' armed wing, said its fighters were exchanging fire with Israeli forces in the northwest and south of the Gaza Strip. Qassam brigade fighters launched a major counterattack northwest of Gaza, destroying six Israeli tanks, two personnel carriers and a bulldozer. According to the Al-Qassam brigades, in the past 48 hours, an Israeli tank battalion was destroyed and a number of Israeli soldiers were killed or wounded.