From the Liveblog of
Sunday, July 7, 2024
IDF says drone strike targeted Khan Younis municipality building used by Hamas
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Khan Younis municipality building in the southern Gaza Strip was hit by a drone strike overnight, with the military saying the site was used by Hamas operatives.
According to the IDF, within the municipality building, there is a tunnel shaft that connects to Hamas’s underground network in Khan Younis. It also says the building was used by Hamas operatives as a staging ground.
Before carrying out the strike, the IDF says it took “several steps” to mitigate harm to civilians, including evacuating Palestinians from the area.
“Hamas operates within the humanitarian area and regularly violates international law, systematically exploiting civilian buildings and the civilian population as human shields for terror activity against the State of Israel,” the military adds.
Meanwhile, the IDF says it killed a terrorist who launched a rocket from Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood at the Israeli border town of Nahal Oz yesterday. The strike was carried out a short while after the rocket attack.
Also in Shejaiya, the IDF says troops with the 98th Division killed several gunmen, destroyed sites used by terror groups, and located weapons over the past day.
In southern Gaza’s Rafah, the IDF says troops with the 162nd Division killed more than 30 gunmen in close-quarters combat and by calling in airstrikes in the past day.
Another airstrike in Rafah targeted a primed rocket launcher, the military adds.
The Times of Israel Community.