Israel Defense Forces troops operating over the past week in the Khan Yunis area of the southern Gaza Strip have killed dozens of terrorists and dismantled more than 130 terrorist sites above and below ground.
Targets included weapons stockpiles, booby-trapped buildings, observation posts and launch positions aimed at Israeli forces.
As part of the operation, Golani Brigade troops—under the command of the IDF’s 36th Division and in coordination with Yahalom special forces combat engineers—discovered and destroyed a terror tunnel stretching approximately 550 yards in length and reaching a depth of 43 feet.
“IDF troops continue to operate against terrorist organizations in Gaza to protect the civilians of Israel, and in particular the residents of the communities near the Strip,” the military said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force attacked some 180 terrorist targets across Gaza over the course of 24 hours in support of the ground forces, the military said in a separate statement issued on Thursday afternoon.
Soldiers of the 162nd “Steel Formation” Division continue to operate in the northern Strip, locating weapons and destroying several Hamas terrorist tunnels over the past day, according to the statement.
In one operation, the division’s troops identified a Hamas cell operating from a “military” structure in Gaza’s north. The soldiers “directed an aircraft that struck and eliminated the terrorists,” the IDF stated.
At the same time, forces of the elite Multidimensional Unit spotted a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell “advancing terrorist plans” in a terrorist structure. The troops ordered an airstrike, killing the terrorists.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, conducted a field tour and held a situational assessment in Khan Yunis on Monday, as part of “Operation Gideon’s Chariots.”
“We are determined—let this be clear to everyone—determined to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves: the return of the hostages, the defeat of Hamas and the safe return of our communities,” Zamir said.
“We will continue to act here with determination, with perseverance, with strength and with wisdom—and we will lead to victory,” he added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday for a second time in 24 hours, to discuss a possible ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Netanyahu, in a statement released thereafter by the Prime Minister’s Office, said the talks “focused on the efforts to release our hostages.
“We are not relenting, even for a moment, and this is made possible due to the military pressure by our heroic soldiers,” said the premier. “The release of all of our hostages—the living and the deceased, and the elimination of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, thereby ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel.”
