Israeli troops uncovered several underground shafts in eastern Rafah where they killed Hamas terrorists in close-quarters combat.
Also, Israeli aircraft struck part of the city where Hamas launched rocket and mortar attacks on Israel’s soldiers, Israeli Defense Forces officials said Friday.
“The IDF is continuing a precise counterterrorism operation in specific areas of eastern Rafah,” the IDF said in a statement.
The Pentagon said Israel’s operations in Rafah don’t appear to be part of a sustained incursion into Rafah, which the White House opposes and led to President Biden’s decision to halt a shipment of 1,200- and 500-pound bombs to Israel.
Israeli troops continue to operate in the central part of the Palestinian enclave to eliminate Hamas fighters and dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Zeitoun, a neighborhood in the southern part of Gaza City.
“Over the past day, (Israeli air force) fighter jets struck a number of terrorists and Hamas terror targets, including a structure rigged with a large number of explosives,” IDF officials said on their Telegram social messaging page. “In addition, the IDF struck terrorist infrastructure sites across the Gaza Strip, including antitank launchers and tunnel shafts.”
Israeli troops also called in an airstrike on a weapons storage facility after identifying Hamas fighters leaving the building and coming toward them, IDF officials said.
