IDF says it’s fighting Hamas throughout Gaza, from Khan Yunis to Jabalya

The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday morning that its “troops killed Hamas terrorists and struck dozens of terror targets” during operations in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip over the past day.

“IDF troops engaged with a terrorist cell that exited from a tunnel shaft, killed two terrorists in combat and struck the shaft,” the IDF said in a statement.

Israeli troops also “conducted a targeted raid on a military compound belonging to Hamas’ Central Jabalya Battalion” during operations in Jabalya in northern Gaza, according to the IDF.

“A number of terrorists were killed as part of the activity,” the IDF added. “Furthermore, the forces located a network of underground tunnels that lead out of the compound, as well as a training area and weapons storage facility in the area of the compound.”

In addition to the ground operations in Gaza, Israeli warships over the past day “struck Hamas military compounds and infrastructure using precise ammunition and firing shells,” according to the IDF.

Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health said Thursday that 350 people have been killed there in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll since Oct. 7 to over 17,000.

Video shows Palestinian men being detained in Gaza

In photos and video published Thursday, dozens of Palestinian men are seen sitting or kneeling in the streets of a northern Gaza town, stripped down to their underwear and hands bound behind their backs as they are guarded by Israeli troops.

The images were the first showing such detentions in the Israeli-Hamas war, now in its third month. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Israeli media said some of the images appeared to show suspected Hamas militants who had surrendered to Israeli forces.

However, the London-based news outlet Al-Araby al-Jadeed, or The New Arab, said one of the men seen in the photos is its Gaza correspondent Diaa al-Kahlout, and that he was rounded up with other civilians.

In a statement on its website, the news outlet said he was among dozens of men arrested in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, along with his brothers, relatives and others.

The report said the detained men were forced to strip and were searched before being taken to an unknown destination.

The images published Thursday were taken from the vantage point of Israeli troops.

Former Israeli military chief’s son killed in Gaza

The son of a former Israeli military chief and member of Israel’s war cabinet has been killed while fighting in Gaza.

The Israeli military said Thursday that Master Sgt. Gal Meir Eizenkot, 25, died in a battle in northern Gaza.

His father, Gadi Eizenkot, served as military chief of staff from 2015 to 2019.

He recently entered politics as a member of the centrist National Unity Party. He joined the newly formed war cabinet as an observer on Oct. 12.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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