Israel continued ground operations overnight on the twenty-fifth day of the war against Hamas. The IDF said that it had struck 300 targets overnight. This included anti-tank missile launch sites, rocket launch posts, and “military compounds inside underground tunnels belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization.”
The IDF said that soldiers had several clashes with “terrorist cells” that fired anti-tank missiles and used machine guns.
“The soldiers killed terrorists and directed air forces to real-time strikes on targets and terror infrastructure,” the army explained.
Hamas commander eliminated
In addition, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) killed the commander of Hamas's Beit Lahia battalion. “IDF fighter jets struck the Commander of the Beit Lahia Battalion of Hamas's Northern Brigade, Nasim Abu Ajina, who directed the massacre on October 7 in Kibbutz Erez and Moshav Netiv HaAsara,” the IDF report said.
According to the military statement, this terrorist was also involved with Hamas’s “aerial array” and had been involved with developing drone and paragliding capabilities.
Hamas has increasingly sought to use drones in the last several years. “His elimination significantly harms the efforts of the Hamas terrorist organization to disrupt the IDF's ground activities,” the IDF said. Beit Lahia is a town in Gaza north of Gaza City near the border with Israel. It is around two kilometers from Netiv HaAsara, an Israeli community that was targeted on October 7. More than 15 people were killed there.
Over the last several days, Israel has expanded operations in Gaza. For instance, Israel on Monday said it had carried out 600 strikes on targets over the previous several days. In addition, IDF ground forces are coordinating closely with the air force to direct strikes. The military said yesterday that there were 150 such strikes.
Foreign media reports in Arabic media continue to discuss the extent of Israel’s operations in Gaza and the advance into areas north of Gaza City among other areas. For example, Al-Ain media in the Gulf discussed the degree to which forces have penetrated along the beach south of Zikim.