Weeks after the IDF was said to have broken Hamas in Northern Gaza, Israeli soldiers finished the bulk of their mopping up operations in Northern Gaza.
Some 35 sites were located and destroyed during the operation, including weapon depots and manufacturing sites, tunnel infrastructure, rocket launching sites with hundreds of launchers, and a site belonging to the commander of the Gaza City Brigade — Izz ad-Din Haddad — according to the IDF.
The 401st Brigade used drones to identify and capture dozens of Hamas operatives, who following interrogations, provided intelligence information. Some of the Hamas gunmen were hiding among the civilian population in Zeitoun.
The brigade killed at least 113 operatives in Zeitoun over the past two weeks. The Hamas gunmen that have been operating in Zeitoun are doing so without a “military framework,” and in relatively small cells.
Troops came under gunfire, RPG fire, and explosive devices amid the operations, with at least four soldiers being killed and several more wounded. According to the IDF, most of the attacks on troops in Zeitoun occurred during the day, rather than at night.
In one incident, the IDF says a Hamas cell fired anti-tank missiles from a close range at troops. An Israeli Air Force drone spotted and struck the cell, killing several of the operatives, while others were spotted fleeing in an ambulance.
In another incident, the brigade called in an airstrike against a building from which a Hamas sniper was shooting at troops.