Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
On January 3, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) provided details on some of its recent operations against the Hamas Movement and other Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the IDF said that in a school in the southern Gaza town of Khuza’a, troops from the 5th Brigade found a tunnel shaft, along with laminated photos of weaponry. The brigade also struck several Hamas sites in the area, including observation and missile launch positions.
Troops from the Givati Brigade spotted a Hamas fighter attempting to place an explosive device on an Israeli tank in the city of Khan Younis, also in southern Gaza, according to the IDF. The troops directed an aircraft to strike the fighter, along with three others who were in the area.
In addition, Givati troops found weapons and a safe with hundreds of thousands of shekels in the home of a Hamas Nukhba force fighter.
Also in Khan Younis, the IDF said that troops from the Kfir Brigade directed an airstrike on a weapons manufacturing plant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Meanwhile in northern Gaza, troops from the Nahal Brigade identified a Hamas cell operating drones in the area of Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods, in order to observe Israeli forces. The IDF said that the cell was eliminated in a drone strike.
Separately, the IDF released video footage showing close air support by Air Force drones for ground forces operating in different parts of Gaza.
The IDF also announced the death of another service member in Gaza. He was identified as Sergeant First Class Meiron Moshe Gersch, 21, from Petah Tikva.
Gersch, a member of the Combat Engineering Corps’ elite Yahalom unit, was the 174th soldier to be killed during the IDF’s ground operations in Gaza.
After occupying much of northern Gaza, the IDF shifted ground operations in recent weeks to the central and southern parts of the Strip. Despite expanding its control within the Palestinian enclave, Hamas and other armed factions continue to show fierce resistance and are in fact improving their tactics.
