Hamas fighters fought Israeli forces during a “six-hour engagement” in the as-Saftawi areas north of Gaza City, used a “thermobaric rocket” for the first time against Israeli special forces, and fired two portable surface-to-air missiles at Israeli helicopters, though failed to shoot them down, war monitors report.

In their latest battlefield assessment from Gaza, the Washington, DC-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said that Palestinian fighters are using “more sophisticated weapons systems” in battle against Israeli forces.

The ISW and CTP report that Israeli troops on the ground in the north of the Gaza Strip called in “fire support” from Israel’s navy ships deployed off Gaza’s coast as well as air support to help in clashes against Hamas and other armed groups.