AL-QUDS(Dispatches) – The 
Zionist regime’s army has acknowledged that Hamas’ military capabilities in Beit Hanoun remain largely intact, local media reported Monday, as 16 Zionist troops were killed in the area in northern Gaza in recent days.
“The town of Beit Hanoun claimed the lives of five Israeli soldiers today (Monday), joining ten other soldiers killed in the town ... within a week only,” said a report by the newspaper Israel Hayom.
According to the newspaper, the number of Zionist troops killed since the military campaign began in early October 2024 has risen to 55, with 16 deaths in Beit Hanoun alone.
On Monday, Israel’s military reported that five soldiers were killed and eight others critically injured when a building in Beit Hanoun exploded.
An unnamed Israeli army officer told the newspaper that Beit Hanoun was heavily bombarded during the first incursion into the town in October 2023, resulting in the destruction of much of the area. One soldier was killed and others wounded in that initial raid.
“There is now an unimaginable number of Israeli fatalities in Beit Hanoun,” the officer said.
The report noted that the military now concedes that Hamas’ local command network remains operational and that its commanders can still issue attack orders.
Hamas is reportedly employing guerrilla warfare tactics, with small units circumventing Zionist troops and launching attacks. Israel Hayom added that this strategy “often succeeds.”
The other factor that has blown into the face of the Zionist regime is some Israeli forces refuse to keep fighting in Gaza.
Yotam Vilk says the image of Zionist troops killing an unarmed Palestinian teenager in the Gaza Strip is seared in his mind.
An officer in the armored corps, Vilk said the instructions were to shoot any unauthorized person who entered an Israeli-occupied buffer zone in Gaza. He saw at least 12 people killed, he said, but it is the shooting of the teen that he can’t shake.
“He died as part of a bigger story. As part of the policy of staying there and not seeing Palestinians as people,” Vilk, 28, told The Associated Press.
Vilk is among a growing number of Zionist troops speaking out against the 15-month conflict and refusing to serve anymore, saying they saw or did things that crossed ethical lines. While the movement is small — some 200 soldiers signed a letter saying they’d stop fighting if the government didn’t secure a ceasefire — soldiers say it’s the tip of the iceberg and they want others to come forward.