Army hits Gaza depot storing Oct. 7 paragliders; intercepts aerial targets near Eilat
None hurt after sirens sound in southernmost Israeli town; IDF says troops in Rafah destroy tunnel shafts and kill multiple gunmen

Israeli fighter jets carried out an airstrike Friday night on a depot in the Rafah area storing paragliders used by Hamas in its October 7 attacks in southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Several paragliders were used by terrorists as Hamas launched its surprise attack on southern communities from the land, air and sea. Terrorists on paragliders were among those that attacked the Supernova music festival in Re’im, where over 300 revelers were murdered.
In the days and weeks following the attack, the paraglider became a symbol of Hamas supporters around the world, who emblazoned it on placards and clothing.
In a statement, the military added that troops from the IDF’s 162nd Division were continuing to operate in Rafah, destroying several tunnel shafts and killing multiple gunmen in the past 24 hours.
Amid the fighting in Rafah, soldiers from the Nahal Brigade called in an airstrike to eliminate a cell of three gunmen who fired an RPG at them from a tunnel shaft, the IDF said.
Meanwhile the army said it was continuing an operation in Gaza City, where over the past day troops killed several gunmen in close-quarters combat and in airstrikes.
The Hamas-run Gaza’s civil defense agency said it found around 60 bodies after Israeli troops withdrew from parts of the city on Friday. The bodies were found in the Tal al-Hawa and Al-Sinaa districts, the civil defense agency said. Israeli forces had moved into the neighborhoods this week after ordering civilians to evacuate on Monday.

“There are still missing people under the rubble of destroyed homes, which is difficult for our crews to reach,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.
The IDF says it has killed numerous gunmen in the fighting, and there was no information from Hamas on the identities of those killed. Residents and the agency said Israeli troops had pulled out after days of fighting with gunmen.
Also on Friday night, Eilat residents were sent running to shelters as warning sirens signaled a possible attack. The military said air defense systems and fighter jets intercepted a pair of “suspicious aerial targets that were heading toward Israeli territory from the east,” terminology it has previously used to refer to drone attacks by Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.
The IDF said the sirens were activated due to concerns about falling debris from the interceptors, adding that there were no injuries.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Friday saw the military announce the killing of two high-ranking Hamas commanders: Ayman Shweidah, the deputy commander of Hamas’s Shejaiya Battalion; and Hossam Mansour, a department head in Hamas’s internal security forces in the Gaza Strip.
According to the IDF, Shweidah had carried out numerous attacks on troops in Gaza, and was involved in the planning and execution of the October 7 onslaught. Mansour “played a significant and continuous part in the preservation and presence of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip,” and also served in the terror group’s military wing, the army said. He was a director of al-Khair, which the IDF charged transferred funds to terror groups in Gaza “under the guise of humanitarian activity.”
Friday also saw troops locate weapons and a command room used by Hamas at UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City, the army said on Friday. The troops had raided the compound earlier this week as part of a new operation carried out by the 99th Division in western and southern neighborhoods of Gaza City.
The UNRWA headquarters had not been in use in recent months. It is not clear when Hamas began using the facility. The IDF raided the compound earlier this year, discovering a major Hamas tunnel network that passed beneath it.

Israel has long accused UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, of funneling money into Hamas’s coffers and letting the terror group use the agency’s facilities.
Israel has also accused the aid agency of employing people who are active members of Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups. On Thursday, it was reported that Jerusalem had sent UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini a letter listing 108 employees of the agency who Israel says are Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives, demanding that they immediately be fired.
Previous Israeli allegations that UNRWA was employing terrorists led several countries to defund the agency. However, the allegations have not been independently corroborated and many countries have resumed funding.