Israeli Military Expands Operations In Khan Yunis

Jerusalem, 29 December, 2023 (TPS) -- The Israeli military expanded its operations in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday morning.

Khan Yunis is the second largest in the Strip. It is also regarded as a personal stronghold of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whose family lives there.

When a remotely manned aerial drone detected a terrorist aiming an RPG at Israeli forces, tanks were directed to eliminate him before he could fire.

Combat fighters killed dozens of terrorists in various encounters, including airstrikes, snipers, machine guns and tanks.

Forces also destroyed terror infrastructure around Khan Yunis. During one operation, a terrorist was spotted taking an RPG out of a tunnel shaft. Soldiers threw several grenades, killing him.

Soldiers also identified a number of terrorists hiding in the building and eliminated them using tank fire.

In another incident, a combat team located a terror squad entrenched in a building and a fighter jet attacked the building and eliminated the terrorists.

In the northern Gaza’s area of Jabaliya, a combat team searching the home of a Hamas operative found weapons and booklets about the IDF. Also found were photos of the operative’s children holding weapons, grenades and RPGs.

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, soldiers and foreigners held captive in Gaza by Hamas is now believed to be 129. Other people remain unaccounted for as Israeli authorities continue to identify bodies and search for human remains.