Israeli bombs on Rafah flattened a mosque and destroyed homes while the Hamas chief was in Cairo for talks Gazans hope could bring a truce in time to head off a full-blown assault on the city.
The al-Farouk mosque in the center of Rafah was flattened into slabs of concrete, the facades of adjacent buildings blasted away. Authorities said four houses had been struck in the south of the city and three in the center.
The IDF deepened its operations in Hamas areas of control across the central and northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, with forces killing some 20 terrorists in Zeitoun over the past 24 hours.
The Israeli military targeted several Hamas terror infrastructure in the Zeitoun area. Ground forces directed fighter jets and aircraft to strike some 10 locations from which attacks were carried out against Israeli forces in Gaza.
One strike targeted a Hamas military site that was still in use by the Gazan terrorists, the IDF said. One terrorist was killed by IDF troops in close combat battles after being identified by soldiers as carrying an RPG.
In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli forces located and destroyed a boobytrapped site from which rockets were most likely launched into Israeli territory, the IDF said.
Israeli forces destroy Hamas, Islamic Jihad ships in Gaza
Israeli forces also operated in Gaza's south, destroying various terror infrastructures in Khan Yunis. The IDF killed some 15 terrorists in targeted raids across the southern Gaza city, seizing AK-47s, grenades, and additional military equipment.
In addition, Israeli naval forces destroyed vessels used by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the southern Strip overnight on Wednesday.
Reuters contributed to this report.