Qassam brigades, Israeli army clash in northern Gaza

Clashes broke out late on Friday between fighters from Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, and an Israeli army force northern the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.

"Our mujahedeen are now in battle with an Israeli force in northern Beit Hanoun," the brigades said in a statement.

Noise from the clashes can be clearly heard in northern Gaza, eyewitnesses said, noting that Israeli helicopters and artillery are taking part in the confrontation, whereas the Al-Qassam members use machine guns and anti-tank missiles.

"Clashes came to an end after the Israelis withdraw," one witness told Anadolu Agency from Beit Hanoun.

Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement that its fighters had surprised an Israeli force that had infiltrated into eastern Rafah and forced it to retreat after inflicting "confirmed" casualties among the Israelis.

The brigades said earlier that it had blown up five explosive charges at a special Israeli unit that had staged an incursion into Beit Lahia in the northern the Gaza Strip.

The group said it had also fired five rockets at concentrations of Israeli soldiers northern the Gaza Strip.