Troops push further into Rafah, kill terror operatives in airstrikes across Gaza — IDF

Israeli troops in Rafah killed several Palestinian gunmen in close-quarters combat and airstrikes across Gaza took out a number of terror group operatives, including one who was among the approximately 3,000 to storm into southern Israel on October 7, the Israeli military says.

The Israel Defense Forces says soldiers are advancing through Rafah’s Brazil and Shaboura neighborhoods in the southern Gaza Strip, following “information on terror targets in the area.”

Operations in the southern Gaza city are being carried out in an “precise manner… while preventing harm to the civilian population as much as possible, after the civilians have evacuated the area,” the IDF says in a statement.

In the past day, troops located rocket launchers, and several tunnel shafts in the area, the army says.

An airstrike was carried out against a cell of three mortar-launching operatives in the Rafah area, killing them, it adds.

Airstrikes on buildings used by Hamas in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya killed several terror operatives and destroyed weapons depots, the IDF says.

Troops operating in Jabaliya also found a large number of weapons, the military adds.

The IDF says several airstrikes were also carried out in the central Gaza area over the past day, including one that killed the head of a terror cell in a hideout apartment and another that killed two terror operatives who had opened fire at troops in the area.

A separate strike in central Gaza killed a terrorist who infiltrated into Israel on October 7, the army says.

Forces are continuing to hold the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza and operating in the area.