Soldiers of the IDF 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade located underground and destroyed a tunnel to a war room belonging to Hamas’ Nukhba operatives in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
WATCH as IDF troops uncover a terrorist tunnel shaft hidden inside a mosque in Gaza.
This is a direct threat to both Israeli and Gazan civilians: pic.twitter.com/lQm1huQWbB
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 28, 2023
The tunnel and the war room were used for the conduct of combat and the transfer of weapons by the Nukhba operatives. The 55th Para Brigade is busy destroying Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure and underground tunnels in the area of Bani Suheila. The soldiers eliminated terrorists and located several tunnel shafts and terrorist infrastructure that were subsequently destroyed by combat engineering soldiers.
The soldiers also located a tunnel shaft and a rocket launcher inside a mosque next to a school. In the mosque, a staging area was identified, which included observation and combat posts that endangered the soldiers. Areas used to store weapons were also located.
IDF infantry and armored forces from the 50th Battalion Battle Team, who are working under the 460 Brigade Battle Team, raided orchards in the Gaza Strip, where they found five tunnel shafts and multiple missile launch pits.
While operating in the orchards, the forces encountered several terrorists who launched RPGs and fired light weapons at them. They confronted the terrorists and eliminated them with accurate gunfire, Arutz Sheva writes. During the attack, armored forces identified two terrorists crawling with weapons toward the forces and eliminated them with a tank round. An anti-tank missile was fired at the forces but did not hit. The IDF identified the source of the fire and eliminated the terrorists.
#WATCH: IDF soldiers engaged terrorists in orchards in the Gaza Strip. The forces discovered five tunnel shafts and multiple missile launch pits in the orchards. pic.twitter.com/rVPL8Vqo1p
— Israel National News – Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) December 27, 2023
Soldiers from the IDF’s Brigade 7 operating in the Khan Yunis area located caches of weapons, eliminated many terrorists in clashes and ambushes, and directed aircraft to strike targets from the air over the last two weeks, Arutz Sheva reported.
Soldiers from IDF Battalion 12 secured a mosque in a Hamas stronghold in the Khan Yunis area and identified an expansive underground infrastructure in the mosque. During raids on terror infrastructure, the soldiers found weapons, instruction booklets, and more.
In one of the rooms, an explosive was detonated, and shots were fired towards the forces, who returned fire while evacuating their injured comrades”, Arutz Sheva writes. With the help of the IAF, the fighters eliminated additional terrorists who were attempting to escape the mosque. Tragically, Sergeant Maor Cohen Eisenkot and Staff Sergeant Jonatan Dean Jr Haim fell in combat. May their memory be a blesssing.
IDF soldiers led by the 401st Brigade of the 162nd Division, in cooperation with Shaytet 13 naval commandos and the Yahalom combat engineers, located and searched three operational tunnel shafts near the Rantisi Hospital, Arutz Sheva writes.
Yahalom combat engineers searched the area, shafts and tunnels using various means for mapping the tunnels’ topography and the connections between the shafts. This operation revealed the shafts are connected by a vast underground network under the hospital, spanning several kilometers and leading to strategic points in the heart of Gaza City. The tunnel in Rantisi is close to a school and leads to another school in the area. The tunnel also served as a command and control center for conducting combat in the northern Gaza Strip and for carrying out terrorist attacks.
The operational shaft located in a girls’ school in the area is about 20 meters deep and includes an elevator and electrical infrastructure, Arutz Sheva writes. Following intelligence information directed by Unit 504 of the Intelligence Directorate, another operational shaft was located inside one of the hideout residences used by one of the commanders of Hamas’ naval unit in the Gaza Strip. In the tunnels’ topography, junctions and blast doors were located – designed to prevent IDF soldiers from breaking in and to protect against damage to the tunnel infrastructure.
“The exposure of the shafts near the hospital and school once again demonstrates Hamas’ cynical use of the civilian population. Exposing Hamas’ use of the residents of the Gaza Strip, including refugees and children, as human shields,” the IDF stated.
The IDF has collected over 65 million Hamas files and half a million documents, operational plans, and combat methods, which are analyzed by the Document and Technical Means Collection Unit in the Intelligence Directorate (J2). Among the documents found is a map of tunnel shafts seized by the 252nd Division in the residence of a company commander in Hamas’ Beit Hanoun Battalion.
A key explaining the map was located and collected by the division at the residence of another operative. With the arrival of the materials to the research team, the important link between the map and the key was created – making it possible to identify the tunnel shafts in the field, of which many tunnel shafts were destroyed, Arutz Sheva writes.
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