The Tel al-Sultan ambush occurred on 15 June 2024, when members of the armed wing of

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

, the

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Al-Qassam Brigades, also known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (EQB; ), are the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist organization Hamas. Led by Mohammed Deif until his death on 13 July 2024, Al-Qassam Brigades ar ...

, ambushed an Israeli convoy near the

Tel al-Sultan refugee camp Tel al-Sultan or Tall as-Sultan () is one of eight Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. It is located in the Rafah Governorate just north of Rafah city and Rafah Camp. It was established mainly to absorb refugees repatriated from Cana ...

, west of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

Background

On 6 May, Israeli forces launched a

military offensive An offensive is a military operation that seeks through an aggressive projection of armed forces to occupy or recapture territory, gain an objective or achieve some larger strategic, operational, or tactical goal. Another term for an offensiv ...

in and around the city of Rafah. Before and during the initial phase of the operation, Israeli forces conducted at least 50

airstrike An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...

s targeting the area. On 26 May, an Israeli airstrike in Rafah resulted in the deaths of 45 Palestinians. According to Israeli authorities, the strike targeted a Hamas installation. The attack triggered a fire in the Tel al-Sultan

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...

, where dozens of

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s were sheltered.

Ambush

At around 05:15 local time, during an overnight offensive in Tal al-Sultan, a Namer armored personnel carrier, which had been involved in the operation, was returning with the rest of the force to captured buildings to allow troops to rest. Hamas first targeted a Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer with an Al-Yassin 105 anti-armor missile, setting it on fire and causing

injuries Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with b ...

and fatalities among its crew. Following this, Hamas fired another Al-Yassin 105 missile at the Namer, which was the fifth or sixth vehicle in the convoy. Initially, it was believed that the Namer may have hit a

land mine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

or that an explosive device had been placed on it. The Namer was ultimately destroyed by the missile, and its crew was killed. It burned for about two hours after the ambush, before being towed to a safe location.

References

{{Gaza war 2024 in the Gaza Strip Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip