The IDF's 401st Brigade has been operating against Hamas's Daraj Tuffah Battalion in the northern Gaza Strip over the last week. The soldiers conducted targeted raids on military posts and the residences of senior officials and neutralized dozens of anti-tank missile cells.
Soldiers from the Shaked Battalion, based on intelligence on the presence of a terrorist cell in a building, scanned the area and conducted a targeted raid on the location. During the activity, soldiers encountered several Hamas terrorists and engaged in a firefight, which ended with the soldiers killing the terrorists.
Soldiers also uncovered a camera belonging to one of the terrorists who was killed, with footage showing Hamas’s operational methods. The footage shows a terrorist presenting himself as a civilian while hiding an RPG-type rocket under a blanket in a civilian area. This strategy, and the use of Gazan citizens as human shields, has been a well-recorded tactic of Hamas.
The footage shows a recording of the now-eliminated terrorist praising God that he was able to destroy 3 Israeli military vehicles.
Commander of the Shaked Battalion, Lt.-Col. Yair, said, "Our forces eliminated the terrorists and found their weapons along with a large amount of weaponry that was seized. The Shaked Battalion will continue to fight the enemy as long as necessary."
Hamas's operational method
As previously mentioned, Hamas builds operations and engages in terrorist activity within densely populated civilian areas. Over the weekend, the IDF arrested dozens of terrorists hiding in a school in central Gaza. While hiding alongside civilians, the terrorists launched RPGs and other arms at Israeli forces operating in the area.
The IDF has also located explosives in UNRWA school bags and schools.