Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets to the North on Monday afternoon, including one volley of around 30 projectiles.
In the evening, the military announced that troops operating in Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon discovered underground military infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, and observation stands that were built inside and around the town, which “serves as one of the main strongholds of the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
Finding and dismantling this infrastructure robbed Hezbollah of its plans to invade the North, the IDF said.
Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, speaking from an underground tunnel built by Hezbollah, said the shaft was “very developed... [it] includes bathrooms, showers, kitchens, and many weapon storage facilities.
“We have been saying for years that Hezbollah is preparing the area of the border for war. To the countries that doubted it, to the UN, to the UNIFIL force that was [stationed] up here, this evidence is key to understanding why we are operating above and below ground and why we need to ensure these things do not return here. We caught this in time, before it was too late, and this infrastructure must not return here in future generations.”
In the area of Tyre in southern Lebanon, fighter jets targeted weapons and rocket storage facilities, along with military infrastructure and observation stands. The IDF issued an evacuation order for large swaths of Tyre, including areas that had not been previously asked to evacuate and that included neighborhoods near a seaside hotel where journalists are usually based. The Lebanese Health Ministry said seven people were killed in the strikes.
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including by issuing advanced warnings via different platforms to the civilian population in the area,” said the IDF, adding that “Hezbollah systematically abuses civilian infrastructure and areas in Lebanon to plan and execute terrorist activities, deliberately endangering the lives of Lebanese civilians.”
Earlier in the day, the IDF announced that the 91st Division, which is operating in southern Lebanon, worked with the IAF to eliminate a terror cell posing a threat to troops. It added that the 146th Division worked to destroy infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and that fighter jets hit dozens of terrorist targets in southern Lebanon, including Hezbollah fighters and a rocket launcher.
In Gaza
In central Gaza, the 252nd Division killed several Hamas fighters and dismantled a large military structure, the army said.
In Rafah, troops killed armed fighters destroyed terrorist infrastructure, and eliminated a terrorist cell operating out of a booby-trapped building.
In Jabalya in the northern part of the territory, the 162nd Division killed dozens of Hamas terrorists on the ground and by air.
“Troops are continuing efforts to evacuate civilians to safer areas, despite Hamas’s deliberate attempts to prevent civilians from moving away from combat zones,” said the military. Troops dismantled underground tunnels and found many weapons there.
Hamas uses hospitals for terror purposes, an ambulance driver at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya confirmed while being interrogated by security officials, according to footage published by the military on Monday.
In the video, the driver, reportedly apprehended on suspicion of involvement in terror activities, confirms his role as driver and paramedic at the Health Ministry in the Kamal Adwan and al-Ahli Arab hospitals.
“Hamas military operatives are present; they are in the courtyards, at the gates of the buildings, in the offices of Kamal Adwan Hospital,” the driver stated. “They operate ambulances to transport their wounded military operatives, and to transport them for their missions, and this is instead of using the ambulances for the benefit of civilians.
“We, the public in the northern Gaza Strip, are sick of this situation. We have had enough; they [Hamas] are stationed in the hospitals, stationed in the schools,” the driver said.
The Hamas-controlled health ministry said on Monday that at least 19 people were killed by Israeli strikes throughout the day, 13 of them in the north. The ministry cannot be verified by an external party.
Also on Monday, Halevi visited wounded soldiers, their families, and the medical staff at the rehabilitation center at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
He said, “The path to recovery is no less challenging than fighting on the battlefield. When your comrades are fighting in the field and know that you’re here making progress – it strengthens them. The partnership and connection between the medical personnel, the air squadrons, and troops in the field – they are our strength.”