In a statement, the Israeli military said it has gained an “operational hold” of the Gaza City neighbourhood, which has been the site of some of the most intense fighting in the war, Al Jazeera reports.

Israeli forces will continue to occupy the neighbourhood and carry out targeted attacks, the statement said.

During the fighting, Israel’s military said the Golani Brigade infantry unit “raided the homes of senior members” of Hamas and “confiscated intelligence material”.

It added that Israeli forces had taken control of what it described as the headquarters of Hamas’s Shujayea battalion.