Israel is expanding ground operations in Gaza in response to Hamas breaking a ceasefire on Friday. The IDF struck more than 200 terror targets in the Hamas-controlled enclave on Sunday.
Millions of Israelis on Monday are under missile attack siren warnings as Hamas continues to pummel Tel Aviv and suburbs and communities in the south.
Israeli forces are seeking out Hamas leaders and missile batteries in response. It destroyed terrorist infrastructure set up in a school in Beit Hanoun that was used to attack Israeli forces. Two tunnel shafts were located in the school complex, one of which included an area for cargo and weapons.
On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike killed Shati Battalion commander Haitham Khawajiri, one of the Hamas commanders responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre.
In addition to directing raids during the Oct. 7 terror assault on southern Israel, the IDF said that Khawajiri “secured Hamas terrorist activity in the Shifa Hospital and was in command of Hamas’s forces fighting against IDF soldiers in the Shati area. He was also responsible for carrying out numerous acts of terror against Israelis.”
IDF troops eliminated 500 of the 800+ exposed shafts to Hamas’ underground tunnels located near or inside kindergartens, schools, playgrounds and mosques.
To be clear, these places aren’t childproof, but rather teeming with terrorism.
Every tunnel shaft and weapon we find is… pic.twitter.com/xIVO1x0PD8
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 3, 2023
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said earlier on Sunday that the IDF had begun its ground offensive in the southern section of the Strip, north of the city of Khan Yunis, while IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in his daily press conference on Sunday evening that the military was expanding the ground offensive to “all areas” of the enclave.
At least 85 IDF soldiers have been killed in action in Gaza, at the Lebanon border and in Judea and Samaria since the start of the IDF ground operation in Gaza on Oct. 27; 401 Israeli soldiers have died since the war started on Oct. 7.
Another hostage murdered by Hamas
The family of Yonatan Samerano, 21, of Tel Aviv, have been informed of his murder in captivity by Hamas.
Samerano was kidnapped from the Nova music festival near on Oct. 7. Evidence released by families and Israeli authorities reveals that at least 10 hostages were murdered while in captivity.
Hamas kidnapped some 240 people during its assault on the northwestern Negev, in which thousands of heavily armed terrorists stormed across the border, murdering 1,200 people and wounding over 5,000 others.
A total of 136 hostages are still being held in Gaza. During a ceasefire that began on Nov. 24 and ended on Dec. 1, 84 children and women, along with 24 foreign nationals, were released by Hamas.
–JNS and news services
