Israeli fighter jets destroyed some 45 terrorist targets across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the military said on Thursday.
Among the targets struck were command centers, armed terrorist squads, rocket launchers, tunnel shafts and other infrastructure, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Ground troops continued to operate in the Rafah area in southern Gaza, conducting raids, locating weapons and eliminating several terrorists in close urban combat.
IAF aircraft also attacked a site in the Rafah area from which rockets were primed to be fired at nearby Israeli communities.
Earlier this week, forces operating in Rafah were ambushed by six armed terrorists who had exited a nearby building. The terrorists were eliminated by a military aircraft, after which troops raided the building, locating a tunnel shaft leading to an underground hideout and weapons stockpile.
The IDF offensive is continuing amid international efforts to forge a ceasefire deal.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Hamas’s official response to the latest proposal as unworkable.
“A deal was on the table that was virtually identical to the proposal that Hamas made on May 6—a deal that the entire world is behind, a deal Israel has accepted. Hamas could have answered with a single word: ‘Yes,’” the secretary said.
“Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions that had previously taken and accepted,” added the top American diplomat, who was in Israel for a two-day visit earlier this week.
