Soldiers from an elite Israel Defense Forces counter-terror unit found a missile and rocket launcher next to a school in the former Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the army said on Thursday.
During the targeted raids, troops also located missiles, explosives and other weapons under a bed in the home of a Hamas operative, according to the IDF.
The rocket launcher was destroyed.
IDF forces also engaged multiple terrorists in nearby Bani Suheila.
The IDF’s week’s long-operation in Khan Yunis’s Hamad City residential complex continued on Thursday, with Israeli forces locating and destroying multiple rocket launchers.
In central Gaza, a terrorist cell was eliminated via air strike minutes after launching a mortar shell at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The shell failed to cross the border, falling inside Gaza, according to the IDF. Several other terrorist cells were also eliminated by ground forces.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Camp Ofer detention facility in Samaria on Thursday, where he met with commanders and soldiers of the IDF’s Nitzan 636 unit and reviewed counter-terror operations in Judea and Samaria.
Netanyahu examined a display of drones and various types of anti-aircraft missiles.
“While you and the IDF are preparing to continue fighting, there are international pressures to prevent us from entering Rafah and completing the job. As prime minister of Israel, I repel these pressures,” said Netanyahu.
“We have been doing this successfully for five months—this is a record time in the history of Israeli wars. I will continue to repel the pressures, we will enter Rafah, we will complete the elimination of the remaining Hamas battalions, we will restore security and we will bring complete victory to the people of Israel and the State of Israel,” he said.
