IDF troops destroy mile-long Hamas terror tunnels

The Israeli Air Force also carried out a targeted strike on an unnamed Hamas terrorist in Gaza City's Al Furqan area

Published Dec 25, 2024  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Family members of Israelis held hostage by Hamas since the October 2023 attacks gather to light a nine-branched menorah candelabrum on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, during a rally demanding an immediate agreement for the return of all abductees on Hostage Square in front of the Israeli Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv on December 25, 2024. Photo by JACK GUEZ /AFP via Getty Images

Israeli forces continue to operate in the southern and central parts of Gaza, destroying underground terrorist infrastructure and eliminating Hamas gunmen, the military said on Wednesday.

Over the past weeks, troops of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade carried out a targeted raid against Hamas infrastructure in the area.

I want the world to know what Hamas did to me in the tunnels

Among other achievements, the division’s engineering forces, working together with the Combat Engineering Corps’ elite Yahalom unit, found and destroyed two 1.2-mile-long attack tunnels, the statement said.

“The routes were branched and had several exit shafts, some of which were booby-trapped, and numerous weapons were found,” it added.

As part of the operation, a terrorist cell that tried to carry out an attack with an explosive device was eliminated, and anti-tank positions and other infrastructure that posed a danger to troops were destroyed.

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On Wednesday, the Israeli Air Force carried out a targeted strike on a Hamas terrorist in Gaza City’s Al Furqan area, the Israel Defense Forces announced separately.

“Prior to the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weapons, aerial observations, and additional intelligence information,” the army statement noted. “The IDF will continue to act with force and determination against the terrorist organizations in Gaza.”

IDF operations against Hamas in recent weeks have largely focused on the northern Strip, where the military has detected a terror resurgence.

Late Tuesday, residents of Israeli border communities reported loud explosions due to IDF activity in Gaza’s north, the Ynet outlet reported.

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IDF soldiers wrapped up a targeted counter-terrorism operation at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, located between Jabaliya and Beit Hanun, the military said earlier on Tuesday.

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The IDF’s Givati Brigade launched the raid overnight on Monday after intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) indicated “the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructures in the area of ​​the hospital,” the IDF stated.

During the past month, the premises of the Indonesian Hospital were repeatedly used to attack Israeli troops, including with anti-tank fire. The military said Hamas also planted explosive devices in the area.

Also on Tuesday, Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck a Hamas rocket-launching pad in the Al-Shati Camp on the northern Gaza coast. The strike near a United Nations structure was carried out after the IDF called on noncombatants to leave the area, according to a statement.

Footage published by the Israeli military showed a Hamas terrorist rocket flying out of the launch site following the IAF airstrike.

IDF ground forces entered the coastal enclave following a weeks-long air campaign in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel’s south, in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, wounded thousands of others and abducted more than 250 people the Strip—96 of whom are still there, along with four others who entered Gaza earlier.

Jerusalem’s war goals for Gaza are to destroy Hamas’s capabilities, ensure that it cannot threaten Israel again, and return the captives.

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