Israel Presses Its Offensive in Khan Yunis

Jerusalem, 29 January, 2024 (TPS) -- The Israel military continued to press its offensive in the heart of Khan Yunis, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday morning.

Khan Yunis, Gaza’s second-largest city, is regarded as a personal stronghold of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whose family lives there. Ground forces recently completed their encirclement of the city.

The Air Force, in cooperation with commando units, struck two buildings used by Hamas for terror infrastructure. Several armed terrorists inside the buildings were eliminated.

The commandos also identified and eliminated five terrorists, one of them armed with an RPG. A search of the building where the five were hiding turned up weapons including RPGs, military gear and other technological equipment.

Elsewhere in the Khan Yunis area, soldiers identified and killed four terrorists who were preparing to attack our forces near the Al-Amal Hospital. Soldiers raided a nearby building that was used as a hiding place for Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists and found weapons there.

In another house belonging to a Hamas terrorist, soldiers found weapons and military equipment.

Meanwhile, in the central area of Gaza, Israeli forces eliminated dozens of armed terrorists in encounters and with the support of directed tank fire. A large number of weapons were seized in the area.

On the outskirts of Shati in the northern part of Gaza, soldiers eliminated a number of armed terrorists in various encounters and located many weapons in the area, including missiles and numerous launchers.

Other Hamas terrorists were eliminated in strikes on anti-tank positions, tunnel shafts, observation posts and other terror infrastructure.

At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. The number of men, women, children and soldiers held captive in Gaza by Hamas is now believed to be 136.