Watch the IDF foil an explosive drone launch squad and attacks on senior members of the Hamas Air Force
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Seventy-five days into the war with Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday revealed the severe damage it has inflicted on the Hamas Aerial Unit since the terrorist attack on southern Israel on October 7. On October 28, the Shin Bet and the IDF announced that the Israeli Air Force had eliminated the head of the Hamas Air Force , Asem Abu Raffa.
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Since then, the IDF announced Wednesday evening, three of his successors have also been eliminated - Muhammad Mazid, Rami Abu Rahma and Ibrahim Elzaidi. The IDF spokesman said that "with hard work and accurate intelligence in real time, the Air Force forces thwarted many terror cells operating from aerial unit of the terrorist organization Hamas since the beginning of the fighting and significantly damaged its capabilities."
In addition, the IDF reported that at the very beginning of the fighting, an " aerial detection system " developed by Hamas over the years was destroyed. The system, according to the IDF, was hidden inside water boilers on the roofs of civilian homes in the Gaza Strip, with the aim of identifying and tracking IDF aircraft. The army claims that, as a result, "the Air Force, in cooperation with the Intelligence Division and Shin Bet, deprived Hamas of its ability to produce a wide sky image."
The IDF spokesman stated that the "Israeli Air Force Intelligence Division operates to maintain aerial superiority in all sectors and to protect the skies of the State of Israel. The Intelligence Division, in cooperation with the Intelligence Directorate (J2), generated hundreds of military targets on the southern front. These targets, including weapons storage facilities, terrorist hideouts and operational centers for senior officials in Hamas’ Aerial Unit, were struck by the IAF."
"Furthermore, accurate intelligence led to the identification and strikes on dozens of launch posts from which missiles were directed at IDF troops inside the Gaza Strip, as well as dozens of UAV launch posts that were placed on the roofs of civilian houses," according to the IDF.