At least four Palestinian armed groups are battling the advance of Israeli forces in central Khan Younis city in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to war monitors.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassem Brigades, have been joined in the fighting by al-Quds Brigades of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades — identified as the armed wing of the Fatah — and the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

According to US-based think tanks, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis are using anti-tank missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortars against Israeli infantry and armour in the centre of the southern city.

Fighters with PIJ also launched a volley of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel’s Ashkelon on Thursday, the war monitors said, noting that Israeli officials had lifted educational and workplace restrictions on the Israeli city on December 18 due to the retreating threat of rocket fire from Gaza.