Local media reported the blocking of Salah al-Din Street in the centre of Gaza by Israeli armoured vehicles.
Israeli tanks infiltrated Salah al-Din Street in the centre of Gaza Strip, some 3 km (1.8 miles) from the Gaza fence, Palestinian sources said on Monday. Fierce clashes are reported in the area. A resident told the AFP news agency:
They have cut the Salah al-Din road and are firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it.
Later on Monday, Salama Maarouf, head of the Hamas government office in Gaza, issued a statement to the press that Israeli tanks had retreated from the outskirts of Gaza City. He said in a statement:
There’s absolutely no ground advance inside the residential neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip. What happened on Salah al-Din Street was the incursion of a few occupation army tanks and a bulldozer. These vehicles targeted two civilian cars on Salah al-Din Street and bulldozed the street before the resistance forced them to retreat. There is currently no presence of occupation army vehicles on Salah al-Din Road, and citizen movement has returned to normal on the road.
Israel has repeatedly warned residents of the northern Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, to move south to avoid military strikes as it continues on a mission to “destroy” the Hamas group that rules the besieged Palestinian enclave.
