IDF strikes Hamas sites and gunmen in south Gaza, hits drone squad in Gaza City

The IDF provides a morning update on its recent activity in Gaza, as much of the fighting shifts to the southern part of the Strip.

It says that in a school in southern Gaza’s Khuza’a, troops of the 5th Brigade found a tunnel shaft, along with laminated photos of weaponry. The IDF says the brigade also struck several Hamas sites in the area, including observation and missile launch positions.

The army says troops of the Givati Brigade spotted a Hamas operative attempting to place an explosive device on an Israeli tank in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. The troops directed an aircraft to strike the operative, along with three others who were in the area, according to the IDF.

The military says Givati soldiers also found weapons and a safe with hundreds of thousands of shekels in the home of a Hamas Nukhba force operative.

Also in Khan Younis, the IDF says troops of the Kfir Brigade directed an airstrike on a weapons manufacturing plant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Meanwhile in northern Gaza, the IDF says troops of the Nahal Brigade identified a Hamas cell operating drones in the area of Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods, in order to observe Israeli forces. It says the cell was eliminated in a drone strike.

בסגירת מעגל מהירה ובשיתוף עם כוחות ארטילריה והכוחות בשטח, כלי-טיס מאויש מרחוק תקף וחיסל חוליית מחבלים שהפעילה רחפנים שתצפתו על כוחותינו במרחב, בהכוונה של מכלול האש של חטיבת הנח"ל. pic.twitter.com/VjadCqKaEg

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) January 3, 2024