Battle of Shuja'iyya (2023)

Battle of Shuja'iyya
Part of the Israel–Hamas war
Date 4–26 December 2023 (3 weeks and 1 day) Location Shuja'iyya, Gaza City, Palestine Territorial changes Israeli withdrawal[1][2]
Belligerents
Israel	Hamas Palestinian Islamic Jihad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Commanders and leaders
Yitzhak Ben-Bashat † Tomer Greenberg †[3]	Amad Abdullah Ali Qariqa[4] Wissam Farhat †
Units involved
Israel Defense Forces Golani Brigade	al-Qassam Brigades Al-Quds Brigades Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades
Casualties and losses
16 soldiers killed[5][6] 1 Namer destroyed	Per Israel:[5] 935+ fighters killed
1,000+ Palestinian civilians killed 3 Israeli civilians killed

During the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Shuja'iyya was the last district in Gaza City that had not been subject to an Israeli ground invasion, and as a result many Palestinians who had not been able to evacuate south had sought refuge in the district. Despite this, the Israel Defense Forces had shelled and bombarded Shuja'iyya for weeks before invading on December 4. On the 26th of December, Israel withdrew from Shuja'iyya, announcing that the local Hamas battalion had been defeated. Despite this, militants continued to attack Israeli forces within the town until Israeli forces eventually withdrew.