Day 90 – Fighting in Gaza continues despite IDF's shift in operational strategy

The IDF spokesman’s office on Thursday evening released the details of a combined unit raid on a Hamas military facility last week. 

During the raid, soldiers from the 179th Brigade, Shayetet 13 [roughly equivalent to U.S. Navy SEALs], and the IDF Yahalom unit completed a targeted raid on a Hamas military compound in the central Gaza Strip. 

The forces identified several tunnel shafts leading to a network of hundreds of meters of Hamas terror tunnels. When searching the tunnels, the soldiers found a weapons cache which included mortars, grenades, and RPG missiles. 

After locating the initial shafts, soldiers of Shayetet 13 and Yahalom identified additional tunnel shafts leading to an underground network with booby-trapped blast doors. After dismantling the booby traps and entering the tunnels, the soldiers found a weapons manufacturing site with machinery, cooling fans, explosives and materials used to extend the range of Hamas' rockets. 

Following the raid on the compound, the tunnel network was destroyed by the engineering forces of the 99th Division and Yahalom. 

Earlier in the day, the IDF revealed that soldiers operating in the heart of the al-Bureij camp discovered long-range rocket launchers. 

In Khan Younis, an Israeli Air Force fighter jet struck a trio of Hamas fighters attempting to place an IED near fighters of the 4th Brigade. In addition, fighters from the brigade eliminated two other Hamas terrorists hiding in a nearby building. 

In another area of Gaza, soldiers from the 98th Division directed an airstrike on a building known to belong to Hamas that was housing an anti-tank operative from the terror group's Deir al-Balah Battalion. 

Another terrorist was eliminated after entering a building in which the IDF had previously removed a large quantity of weapons. The terrorist was allegedly retrieving weapons when he was killed by an airstrike. 

On Thursday evening, IDF Spokesman Brig-Gen. Daniel Hagari said that three missing persons from Oct. 7 are now listed as having been abducted into Gaza.

“This decision was made due to the exhaustion of the investigative activities in the territory of the country and after examining all reasonable scenarios and the information in our possession. The families have been informed,” Hagari said. 

The updated number of abductees now stands at 136 hostages. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the Gaza border late on Thursday afternoon where he was briefed on the fighting taking place in the northern and southern Gaza Strip. While there, he issued a warning to Hamas operatives.

"Those terrorists who started counting down until the IDF forces left Gaza, need to change the count and start counting until the end of their lives on earth, it will come soon," Gallant said.