The IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated that the IDF’s 98th Division began operational activity in the Khan Yunis area following intelligence indicating the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
IDF operational activity in the Gaza Strip
(IDF)
He added that the IDF is operating above and below ground to eliminate terrorists as part of the effort to degrade the terror organizations' capabilities throughout the Gaza Strip as they attempt to regroup. Alongside the operational activity on the ground, the IAF struck more than 30 Hamas terror targets in Khan Younis including weapons storage facilities and terrorist gathering areas.
According to the IDF spokesman, the IDF coordinated the entry of the soldiers and aircraft into the Khan Younis area with fighter jets and helicopters. The IAF targeted terrorists at the tactical level who planned and carried out mortar and sniper fire attacks toward IDF troops and the State of Israel. In the joint operation, the Air Force and the 98th Division destroyed ammunition depots.
On Thursday, the IDF called on Khan Younis residents who had not evacuated yet to do so. "Hamas and the terrorist organizations continue to fire rockets from your areas at the State of Israel," the IDF statement said. "We will act forcefully against these threats. For your safety, you must evacuate these areas immediately to the humanitarian zone."
The Palestinians claimed that 15 people were killed in an attack on two schools in Gaza City. The IDF said in response that these were "Command and control complexes of Hamas", where terrorists were staying. A day earlier, the combat teams of the Givati and Nahal brigades raided military sites in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Nahal forces eliminated terrorists in close-range encounters and destroyed terrorist infrastructure in the area, including a rigged building near the Tal as Sultan refugee camp.
Khan Younis people evacuating from the area