IDF says troops destroyed multiple rocket launching sites, tunnel shaft in Gaza

Troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade operating in the central Gaza Strip located two Hamas rocket launching sites, with projectiles prepared for launch in the immediate time-frame, the IDF says, Report informs via The Times Of Israel.

Footage shared by the IDF shows the launchers being destroyed, with at least one of the rockets flying out due to the blast.

The IDF says operations continue in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, with the 7th Armored Brigade destroying a Hamas tunnel shaft in a building used as a weapons depot.

The 7th Brigade killed several Hamas gunmen with tank shelling in the area, the IDF adds.

Also in Khan Younis, the IDF says the Paratroopers Brigade spotted Hamas gunmen opening fire from a building and fleeing. It says the soldiers called in an airstrike, killing one of the operatives, while the second fled to another building, where he was later killed by another aircraft.

In northern Gaza, where the IDF says it has defeated Hamas’s organized fighting force, troops of the 401st Armored Brigade located and destroyed a number of rocket launching positions in the al-Atatra neighborhood, according to the military.

Over 700 of Hamas’s rocket launchers have been destroyed since the beginning of the war, the IDF announced on Friday afternoon. This has limited Hamas’s launching capabilities, the IDF said, which is expected to reduce risks to civilian populations in Israel.