Israel struck 320 Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip over the last day and also struck a terrorist cell in Lebanese territory, along with an anti-tank missile launch post overnight.
The strikes come on the seventeenth day of the war dubbed Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas in Gaza. Hamas carried out a mass attack on October 7, murdering more than 1,000 civilians and killing 300 soldiers and dozens of police and members of local security forces.
The IDF has continued to strike at Hamas from the air. While there has been discussion of a ground invasion and Israeli officials say that Hamas will be removed from the Gaza Strip, for now, the air campaign continues to inflict damage.
“Over the past day, the IDF continued to strike terror infrastructure and military targets in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said. “Following Shin Bet and IDF intelligence, the terror targets struck included tunnels containing Hamas terrorists, dozens of operational command centers, some of which concealed Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, military compounds, and observation posts.”
Israel's enemies using anti-tank fire to combat IDF
The IDF is increasingly forced to contend with anti-tank missile threats. These often involve Kornet or other types of missiles. The IDF said that it struck dozens of sites in the Gaza Strip including mortar and anti-tank launch posts. This is an attempt to shape the battlefield and prepare the ground for further operations.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said this week that the operation in Gaza will take time, perhaps a month or two but in the end, “there will be no Hamas.”
Anti-tank missile attacks from Gaza and Lebanon have killed two IDF soldiers in the last two days. According to Israel radio Reshet B’ an anti-tank missile targeted an IDF bulldozer and engineering team yesterday near Kissufim. Cpl. Tamir Barak of Nir Eliyahu was killed. He was a member of the Combat Engineering Corps.
Staff Sgt. (res.) Omer Balva was killed on Friday by anti-tank fire from Lebanon. He was a member of the Alexandroni brigade.
Overnight, the IDF said a tank thwarted a number of terrorist cells, including an anti-tank missile cell on the Gaza border, the IDF said. On the Lebanese front, the IDF also struck a terrorist cell and hit an anti-tank missile launch post. “The terrorist cell was planning to carry out an anti-tank missile launch towards the town of Shlomi. IDF,” the IDF said. An “IDF aircraft struck a terrorist cell operating near the border along with the weapons in their possession.”
Estimates now say that up to 30 Hezbollah members have been killed in Lebanon in numerous attempts to attack Israel. Hezbollah published the names and images of two more Hezbollah members yesterday who were killed.
The number of Hamas rockets fired so far in the war is more than 7,000 and the IDF has targeted thousands of terror sites in Gaza, and dozens in Lebanon. There have also been numerous incidents of anti-tank fire, rockets, mortars and small arms fire from Lebanon.