Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
On December 6, the Israeli Defense Forces said that “fierce battles” with the Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip continued as the Air Force carried out strikes against more than 250 targets over the past day.
In a statement, the IDF said that the 7th Armored Brigade directed strikes on two rocket launchers previously used in the barrages in central Israel.
The Air Force strikes also hit several Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, alongside infrastructure belonging to the groups, according to the IDF.
The IDF added that the Kfir Brigade killed a group of Hamas fighters who were near a school in northern Gaza. Later, the soldiers found and destroyed a tunnel shaft and weapons in the area. In another school in northern Gaza, the soldiers found weapons.
Separately, the IDF announced the death of a soldier from the 7th Armored Brigade’s 82nd Battalion in Gaza, which brought the toll of Israeli troops killed during group operations in the Strip to 83. The IDF also said that an officer, the commander of a unit in the 98th Division tasked with locating missing persons, was killed in a “car accident” in southern Israel.
Meanwhile, Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that its fighters targeted 24 vehicles of the IDF during clashes in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza over the past day. The fighters also hit 18 Israeli soldiers with machine guns and eight others with sniper rifles.
A house where an IDF force was taking cover was also blown up, according to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade, which added that another force fell into a minefield. Several Israel gatherings were also targeted with rockets.
The IDF intensified strikes on southern Gaza and expanded ground operations to Khan Yunis and nearby areas in recent days. However, it is yet to make a breakthrough.
