Last updated: 31.12.2023, 01:03 a.m.
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Smoke rises over Khan Yunis after Israeli attacks. © Mohammed Dahman/AP/dpa
The forces are currently concentrated in the south of the Gaza Strip, where they now claim to have found Hamas headquarters. Their leader is also said to be hiding in the tunnels.
Gaza/Tel Aviv - The Israeli army says it has stormed the headquarters of the Islamist Hamas in Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip. It also housed the terrorist organization's intelligence headquarters, said Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari. The information could not be independently verified.
Israel suspects that the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Jihia Sinwar, is hiding in the underground tunnels under Khan Yunis. The armed forces are intensifying their fight against Hamas, focusing primarily on the southern part of the coastal area and the central Gaza Strip.
In the north of the cordoned-off coastal strip, Israel's army says it is in the process of exercising complete control over the area. At the moment, the operation is concentrated on the last remaining Hamas stronghold in the city of Gaza, the neighborhood of Tufah, said army spokesman Hagari. On Saturday, the army also completed a large-scale attack on targets of the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon on Israel's border with Lebanon, it said. In the process, three "terrorist cells were eliminated". The army will continue to attack Hezbollah military positions in southern Lebanon.
Several rocket launches from Lebanon into Israel
"The southern region of Lebanon will not go back to what it once was," Hagari said. During the course of Saturday, several rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel. 80 percent of Hezbollah's rockets fell on Lebanese territory. This, too, could not be independently verified.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, there have been repeated confrontations between Israel's army and Hezbollah on the border. There were deaths and injuries on both sides. It is the most serious escalation since the second Lebanon war in 2006. Hezbollah has ties to Hamas in Gaza, but is considered more powerful. It is also considered the most important non-state ally of Israel's arch-enemy Iran. Dpa