The fighters of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas have launched retaliatory attack against Israeli forces targeting their Merkava tanks in southern part of Gaza City.

The resistance group said on Friday that its fighters have targeted two Israeli Merkava 4 tanks which were surrounded by Israeli soldiers in the Tal al-Hawa area.

Additionally, the Qassam battalions fired a rocket at an Israeli helicopter in the southern part of the city.

The Israeli Occupation Forces confirmed that 13 soldiers have recently been injured in Gaza and noted that three rockets were also launched from Gaza towards the city of Ashkelon located in the southern parts of the occupied Palestinian Lands.

The Israeli army said Thursday that one more soldier was killed and two others injured in clashes with Palestinian fighters in the southern Gaza Strip.

A statement identified the dead soldier as Staff Sgt. Noam Douek,19, from the 9th Battalion of the 401st Armored Corps Brigade.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 39,180 Palestinians and injured over 90,403 since the start of the offensive. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.