During the ground phase of the war with Hamas, on the night of October 28, Gaza suffered an unprecedented fire attack: dozens of terrorists were killed and 150 underground terror infrastructure facilities were attacked.
Thus, Israel began a new phase of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. First, there was an unprecedented massive shelling of ground and underground terror targets from the air, sea and land. Several thousand ground forces then entered the enclave. At this stage, this is a limited ground operation, but, apparently, its scope will soon be expanded.
According to the IDF, 150 underground Hamas sites in the northern Gaza Strip were attacked overnight, some of the attacks were recorded on camera and published by the army press service. Several dozen terrorists were eliminated, including the commander of the Hamas air force, Asem Abu Rakaba, reports publication of “News of Israel”.
In a statement, the IDF press office said he was directly involved “in the planning and execution of the atrocious attack on October 7.” In particular, he supervised the actions of terrorists on paragliders and drone attacks on IDF forward posts.
There were no casualties among IDF troops, the statement noted. The commander of the fire center in the southern military district, Lieutenant Colonel Y., said that the IDF was conducting fire on Gaza on an unprecedented scale from the air, the ground and even from underground. The army will destroy all Hamas militants, regardless of rank, and the entire infrastructure of terror.
Gilad Keinan, an air force brigadier general, added that overnight airstrikes by several hundred warplanes dropped hundreds of munitions and destroyed hundreds of Hamas targets. He said that the Air Force is ready to continue the operation to destroy everything related to Hamas.
On Saturday morning, the IDF command held a meeting to discuss the first results of the ground phase of the operation. The IDF has so far specifically refrained from officially recognizing the start of the ground operation. In the next 24 hours, decisions will be made regarding the next stages of hostilities.
Meanwhile, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health reported that the number of civilian deaths in the strip had risen to 7,700, almost half of them children. Hundreds of houses were completely destroyed as a result of Israeli bombing. The most serious destruction, according to militants, was in the areas of Al-Shifa hospitals and the so-called Indonesian hospital in Jebaliya. Previously in Tel Aviv claimedthat Hamas locates its command centers in hospitals. The militants deny this.
Relatives of Israeli hostages taken to the Palestinian enclave on October 7 are expressing their concern about the scale of the IDF operation in Gaza. Their representatives demanded an urgent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the safety of the prisoners. According to the latest data, Hamas is holding 229 Israelis.
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