Thousands of Gazans – more than in the last few days – fled toward the Strip’s southern half using a humanitarian corridor opened by the IDF via the Salah-a-Din Road on Wednesday, as Israeli forces continued to pound through, expose and destroy Hamas operatives, tunnels and weapons facilities.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the number of fleeing Gazans has topped 15,000 people for the day. IDF Arabic language spokesman Lt.-Col. Avichay Adraee on X called on Gazans to “join the hundreds of thousands” who have evacuated already and to head south between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Later Wednesday, Adraee said the corridor would remain open for another hour after thousands showed up. IDF Chief Spokesman R-Adm. Daniel Hagari said that the corridor would continue Thursday.
Between 750,000 and one million Gazans had already evacuated northern Gaza where most of the IDF’s ground invasion has been focused since the end of October.
Hamas and Hezbollah continued to fire rockets on Wednesday, but in diminished numbers since Tuesday.
Four Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, one near Lebanon border
The IDF said that 351 IDF soldiers have been killed in the last 33 days, and identified three more soldiers killed in the battles in northern Gaza: St.-Sgt. Noam Yosef Abou, 20, from the Nahal’s 931 Battalion, originally from Dimona; Sgt.-Maj. Yonatan Hatzur, 22, from the IAF’s Shaldag Unit, originally from Katzir; Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Yaakov Ozri, 28, from the 52 Battalion of the 401st “Iron Tracks” Brigade, originally from Shamai.
Earlier in the week, during reserves service related operations, 55-year-old Meir Moyal, a resident of Kiryat Shmona was killed, it was announced on Wednesday. Another soldier was also injured in fighting in northern Gaza.
Palestinian media reported clashes between militants and Israeli forces near Shati (Beach) refugee camp in Gaza City. Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, said in unverified reports its fighters had destroyed an Israeli tank in Gaza City. Hamas-run Palestinian tallies say more than 10,000 people have been killed, 40% of them children.
IDF destroys terror tunnel near UNRWA school
IDF ground troops and “Yahalom” soldiers conducted joint activity in the Beit Hanun area to locate and destroy terror tunnels, locating one tunnel shaft near an UNWRA school. 130 such tunnel shafts have been destroyed so far.
The 7th Brigade of the IDF’s Armored Corps encountered and successfully neutralized terrorists who had been launching attacks from a well-coordinated position in the Gaza Strip. The encounter began when the soldiers identified an anti-tank missile and observation station used by Hamas. The station was connected via an underground tunnel to a larger cache of weaponry.
The IDF then immediately called in an airstrike. The terrorists attempted to escape the strike by fleeing to the rooftop of a nearby building where they were targeted and eliminated in a subsequent airstrike.
The IDF also spotted and neutralized a group of Hamas terrorists launching mortar shells into Israel. An aircraft, supported by a fighter jet from the Gaza Division’s Fire Control Center, executed a tactical strike, hitting the launch site, taking out both the position and the terrorists.
Exchanges of fire on Lebanon border
Lt.-Col. “G”, commander of the 7th Brigade assault unit, said: “There is no escape: Any terrorist who encounters the brigade will be eliminated, and any terrorist who tries to flee will fail.”
Israel does offer Hamas forces the opportunity to surrender if they put down their arms and come out with their hands raised.
On the northern border with Lebanon, there were two rounds of exchanges, with Hezbollah firing two rockets earlier Wednesday at Shtula and the Yiftach area, and firing anti-tank missiles later in the day. The IDF responded with artillery and tank fire to the source of the rocket fire.
Two soldiers were wounded by the anti-tank missiles and were evacuated for medical care, while the IDF responded to the anti-tank fire with artillery fire of its own.
Israel began its offensive against Hamas after it launched a cross-border massacre attack on October 7 that murdered 1,400 Israelis dead, and took 239 hostages to Gaza.