Over 700 of Hamas’s rocket launchers have been destroyed since the beginning of the war, the IDF announced on Friday afternoon. This has limited Hamas’s launching capabilities, the IDF said, which is expected to reduce risks to civilian populations in Israel.
Many of the rockets and launchers had been located and destroyed by IDF soldiers operating within the Gaza Strip and during targeted airstrikes.
Weapons in civilian areas
The 100th Squadron, during an aerial intelligence gathering mission, identified Hamas terrorists firing from within a school and a mosque in the Gaza Strip. The squadron neutralized the launchers in both locations.
Footage of the IAF airstrikes was subsequently released released.
In a similar situation, forces from the Golani Brigade located loaded and ready-to-launch rocket launchers that Hamas had stored within a cemetery. Again, the soldiers neutralized the weapons.
The IDF stressed that Hamas endangers both Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives by indiscriminately firing rockets at Israelis from rocket launchers located inside Gazan civilian buildings, including schools, mosques and residences. In past occasions, rockets launched by Hamas within the Strip have landed on civilian Palestinian populations.
In October, a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group landed on a hospital in Gaza, endangering the lives of Palestinian healthcare workers and patients. Similar misfires occurred in August when a PIJ rocket fell next to a clinic in Jabalya, killing two Palestinians.
Numerous groups, including Human Rights Watch and B'Tselem, have also in the past stated that Hamas's firing of rockets aimed indiscriminately at Israeli civilian populations is a war crime.
In a 2021 report, HRW said, "The rockets and mortars that Palestinian armed groups fired lack guidance systems and are prone to misfire, making them extremely inaccurate and thus inherently indiscriminate when directed toward areas with civilians. Launching such rockets to attack civilian areas is a war crime.
"Hamas authorities should stop trying to justify unlawful rocket attacks that indiscriminately kill and injure civilians by pointing to Israel's violations," Eric Goldstein, HRW acting Middle East and North Africa director, said at the time, according to the BBC. "The laws of war are meant to protect all civilians from harm."
Reuters and Tzvi Joffree contributed to this report.