The Israeli army continued the battles in the northern Gaza Strip’s last unsecured areas while its forces further advanced south into the town of Khan Younis over the weekend.
Ground operations backed by air and artillery strikes focused on the areas of al-Bureij and Nuseirat in the north, while in the south, the large town of Khan Younis is the main theater of operations, according to the IDF.
IDF soldiers of the 7th Armored Brigade raided a Hamas intelligence headquarters in the city and located another intelligence HQ belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group.
During the fighting in the city, tanks, snipers, and targeted airstrikes at the direction of the 460th Brigade battlegroup killed dozens of terrorists hiding in tunnels and civilian buildings.
In preparation for deeper maneuvers into the heart of the city, the 98th Division and the Air Force destroyed some 50 targets including tunnels and other military positions that would threaten the ground forces’ advance.
In addition, the 5th Brigade battlegroup began operating in Khirbat Ahza on the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis, which served as a staging ground from where terrorists launched an attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.
They already killed several terrorists and located dozens of tunnel shafts and weapons caches.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is believed to be hiding in his hometown of Khan Younis, after fleeing the terror group’s command centers in Gaza City during the fighting.
Israeli troops on Friday found a hideout apartment belonging to Sinwar in Gaza City, which connected to a large tunnel system underneath. It was found by the elite Yahalom combat engineering commandos who mapped and later destroyed it.
In the northern Gaza Strip, most neighborhoods have largely been secured and are now being methodically searched for remaining terrorists and their hideouts, while the infrastructure is mapped and destroyed.
Soldiers of the 261st Officers’ School Brigade raided the home of a Hamas terrorist in Jabaliya, finding weapons and instruction material about the Israeli army.
In Shejaiya, soldiers of the 414th Recon Battalion spotted a terrorist squad and directed an airstrike that eliminated it.
Over 30 terrorists were killed in Gaza City over the weekend, 15 of them being eliminated from the air in the span of three hours.
In the al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, the 188th Armored Brigade fought gunmen hiding in a school among civilian refugees. Most of them were captured in a raid, while other terrorists hiding nearby were killed.
The forces also found and destroyed three rocket launchers and nine tunnel shafts in the area.