Five Israeli soldiers, including two officers, were seriously wounded and six others were lightly injured in a Hamas attack on an army encampment in Gaza City on Monday afternoon, the military announced.
The attack came hours after two rockets were launched from northern Gaza, the second time in just over a week that such attacks were made on Israeli territory, and as the Israel Defense Forces pressed on with an all-out assault on Gaza City, whose aim, Israel says, is to wipe out Hamas in its final redoubts.
The Hamas attack began at around 5:25 p.m. with a cell of five terror operatives infiltrating an army encampment and setting off two explosive devices against a tank of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 82nd Battalion.
Troops at the encampment exchanged fire with the gunmen, killing at least two of them — one by tank shelling and one in a close-quarters gun battle, according to the IDF.
The IDF said it was hunting for the three surviving Hamas gunmen who managed to flee the encampment after the attack.
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During the incident, a medical officer, a tank officer, and three soldiers of the 82nd Battalion were seriously injured, the IDF said. Six other troops were lightly hurt. The soldiers were all taken to hospitals, and their families were notified.
Troops from the Givati Brigade operate in Gaza City, in this photo released on September 29, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Hours earlier, two rockets were fired from northern Gaza at the Nahal Oz area, a community on the Strip’s border. Interceptors were fired at the two rockets, which ultimately did not cross the border and fell short inside the Strip, according to the IDF
Alerts were activated in open areas only, and not in any towns, “according to protocol,” the military added.
Last week, two rockets were fired at Ashdod, one of which was intercepted, while the other hit an open area.
Meanwhile, Gaza medics linked to Hamas said the military killed at least 18 people across the Strip, most of them in Gaza City. The figures could not be verified, and did not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants.
Troops operate in Gaza City in this photo released on September 29, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)
The Israeli Air Force struck some 140 targets in the Gaza Strip in the past day, including buildings used by terror groups, operatives, and other infrastructure, the military said.
The Israeli Navy also operated in Gaza, shelling a weapons depot and other buildings used by Hamas operatives in the Strip’s north, the IDF said.
The strikes came as ground troops from three IDF divisions continued to push into Gaza City.
The IDF said the 36th Division destroyed several buildings used by Hamas to observe forces, and directed a drone strike that killed a cell of gunmen planting bombs; troops of the 98th Division killed a Hamas operative who had launched mortars at the forces; and soldiers of the 162nd Division killed several operatives and neutralized booby traps.
Elsewhere, in northern Gaza, the 99th Division hit several more buildings used by Hamas for surveillance, while in the Strip’s south, soldiers of the Gaza Division killed several operatives near the forces in the southern Khan Younis area, the IDF said.
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas on October 7, 2023, when it led a devastating invasion of southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken to Gaza.
High-rise bomb
The IDF has struck dozens of tall buildings in Gaza City in recent weeks, saying they were being used by Hamas as command posts and for surveillance, and some were rigged up with booby-traps.
On Monday, the military published a video showing troops locating an explosive device planted by Hamas in a high-rise building in the city.
According to the military, the bomb was found on the sixth floor of the tower using a drone. The booby trap was “neutralized,” and no soldiers were injured in the incident, the army said.
This drone video, published September 29, 2025, shows the IDF locating what it is says is an explosive device planted in a high-rise building in Gaza City. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israeli tanks, meanwhile, advanced to within a few hundred meters of Gaza City’s main Al Shifa Hospital, where doctors say hundreds of patients are still being treated despite Israeli orders to leave.
Health officials said tanks had also surrounded the area around nearby Al Helo hospital, housing 90 patients, including 12 babies in incubators. Medics said it was shelled overnight.
Palestinians look through rubble following an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, September 26, 2025. (Fathi Ibrahim/FLASH90)
Also on Monday, the IDF and Shin Bet announced that the deputy commander of the Hamas Zeitoun Battalion in Gaza City, who led hostage release ceremonies and participated in the October 7 onslaught, was killed in a recent airstrike.
The Hamas commander, Musa Shaldan, was killed in a strike carried out by the Israeli Air Force last week, according to the IDF.
As a company commander in the Zeitoun Battalion, Shaldan invaded Israel with his forces on October 7, 2023, the IDF said. Additionally, the army said he was one of the leaders of Hamas’s incendiary balloon launches at Israel before the war.
During the war, Shaldan was responsible for the release of hostages from Gaza City, and he was seen leading Hamas’s release ceremonies earlier this year, the military said.
The IDF said that during the war, Shaldan led numerous attacks against Israeli troops — including sniper fire, explosives, and anti-tank fire — while sheltering in “humanitarian compounds.” He was also responsible for Hamas’s fighting positions in Zeitoun.
Previously, Shaldan served as the intelligence chief in the Zeitoun Battalion and a deputy company commander, the army added.
Hamas commander Musa Shaldan is seen during a hostage release ceremony in Gaza City in early 2025, in a handout photo issued by the military, on September 29, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
On Sunday, the IDF and Shin Bet announced that a Hamas Nukhba Force commander who led the killing and kidnapping of Israelis from a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im during the October 7, 2023, onslaught had been killed in a recent airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
According to the military, Hassan Mahmoud Hassan Hussein served as a Nukha company commander in Hamas’s Bureij Battalion.
Hussein, alongside another Nukhba force commander, Muhammad Abu Attawi, led the attack on a bomb shelter near Re’im where partygoers from the Nova festival had fled to.
Four people were taken hostage alive from the shelter and 16 were murdered. Seven managed to survive and were later rescued.
Hamas terrorist Hassan Mahmoud Hassan Hussein during the attack on a bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
Hussein was also involved in attacks on troops during the war in Gaza, the IDF said.
Attawi, the other Nukba commander involved in the attack on the Re’im shelter, was killed in an Israeli strike in October 2024.
Also Sunday, Israeli troops operating in Gaza City killed a Hamas operative who attempted to plant a bomb next to an armored personnel carrier, the military said.
According to the IDF, the troops spotted the operative and opened fire on him as he tried to detonate the bomb against a Namer APC.
A short while later, an additional cell of Hamas gunmen was identified in the area, and the forces called in a drone strike that killed them, the army said.
The army issued footage showing the operative who was killed trying to approach the troops, and airstrikes directed by the forces.
These videos issued by the IDF on September 28, 2025, show a Hamas operative attempting to attack troops in Gaza City, and additional airstrikes in the area. (Israel Defense Forces)
The incident took place during operations of the 188th Armored Brigade and Bislamach Brigade — the IDF’s School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders — under the 98th Division.
Agencies contributed to this report.