The Israeli military attacked around 40 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday.
The strikes targeted gunmen, weapons depots and infrastructure used by Hamas and other terrorist groups, the military added.
Ground forces continued operations in several parts of the Strip. In southern Gaza’s Rafah, troops in the Tel Sultan and Shaboura neighborhoods killed several Hamas gunmen and destroyed terrorist infrastructure. In the north, soldiers demolished weapons caches and carried out drone strikes on identified terrorists.
The renewed wave of airstrikes and ground assaults comes amid stalled negotiations that have been brokered by Egypt. Hamas said on Thursday that it was willing to release the remaining 59 hostages, living and dead, in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, the rebuilding of Gaza and a complete IDF withdrawal. But it dismissed Israel’s offer as including “impossible conditions,” particularly the demand that Hamas disarm.
Israeli officials have maintained that any agreement must include the complete demilitarization of Hamas and exclude the group from any role in governing Gaza. Defense Minister Israel Katz said troops would remain in a security buffer zone inside the Strip even after a settlement.
Since March 18, the IDF says it has struck some 1,200 Gaza targets, including terrorist tunnel routes. It has also carried out more than 100 targeted killings, as well as the neutralization of hundreds of gunmen and commanders from terrorist organizations in Gaza.
Fifteen company commanders and additional terrorists who infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, were among those slain, according to an IDF post on X.
