Israeli forces continue to operate across the Gaza Strip, engaging terrorists in the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis in the south and Jabalia in the north, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday morning.
In Khan Yunis, the Israeli Air Force attacked “dozens of terrorist targets.” Two terrorists were killed after a squad emerged from a tunnel shaft, which was destroyed.
In Jabalia, Israeli forces raided a military post belonging to Hamas’s Jabalia Center Battalion, killing several terrorists and locating a network of underground tunnels, as well as a training complex and a weapons warehouse.
Israeli Navy forces attacked Hamas terrorist infrastructure and military compounds using precision weapons and firing shells.
Israel approves fuel for southern Gaza
Israel’s Security Cabinet on Wednesday evening approved a “minimal supplement of fuel” into the southern Gaza Strip, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The War Cabinet recommended the move as “necessary to prevent a humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics.”
The announcement stated that “the minimal amount will be determined from time to time by the War Cabinet according to the morbidity situation and humanitarian situation in the Strip.”
Coalition Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir voted against the move to allow in additional fuel, which reportedly stemmed from U.S. pressure.
Washington is reportedly demanding that the current daily delivery of 60,000 liters (nearly 16,000 gallons) be doubled or tripled. Channel 12 reported that the War Cabinet will gradually increase the daily amount from 60,000 liters to 180,000 liters (47,550 gallons).
Israeli casualties continue to rise
The IDF on Thursday published the names of three more soldiers killed during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
Sgt. Amit Bonzel, 22, from Shoham, was killed on Wednesday in a battle in the center of the Gaza Strip.
Sgt. Alemnew Emanuel Feleke, 22, from Kiryat Gat, was wounded in battle in southern Gaza on Tuesday and later died of his injuries.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Maor Gershoni, 24, from Yokne’am Illit, a commander in Battalion 8173 of the 6th Etzioni Brigade, was killed on Wednesday in a battle in the north of the Gaza Strip.
At least 87 soldiers have been killed in action in Gaza since the start of the IDF ground operation on Oct. 27; 414 Israeli soldiers have died since the war started on Oct. 7.
5,000 Hamas terrorists killed during Gaza ground op
Israeli forces have killed at least 5,000 Hamas terrorists during “Operation Swords of Iron,” according to The Washington Post, citing Israeli security officials.
The IDF estimates the terror group possessed approximately 30,000 fighters before Oct. 7, when thousands of gunmen burst across the Gaza border and murdered 1,200 people, mostly civilians, wounded over 5,000 others and took 240 hostages back to Gaza.
Palestinian terrorists have fired more than 11,500 rockets towards Israeli territory since Oct. 7.