At least seven armed Palestinian groups are battling Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip and Israel has carried out “multi-week operations” to “re-clear” areas in the north of the territory where Palestinian fighters are based, war monitors report, Al Jazeera reports.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), two US-based military think tanks, said Israeli forces are also conducting a “second round of clearing operations” in the west of Khan Younis in the south of Gaza.

The focus of the Israeli “re-clearing” operation is Khan Younis’s al-Amal neighbourhood, the ISW and CTP said in their latest battlefield report.

On Sunday, Palestinian fighters in Gaza fired eight rockets at southern Israel’s Ashdod, the first reported attack on the city since mid-January, as well as rockets fired at Israel’s Beeri region. On Monday, rockets were fired at Sderot city, the latest ISW/CTP report states.