IDF conducts targeted raid inside Gaza Strip

(JNS) — Israeli tanks rolled into the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday night in a pinpoint raid, “as part of preparations for the next stages of combat,” the army said.
Under the lead of the Givati infantry brigade, Israeli forces struck terrorists along with terror infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts and “operated to prepare the battlefield” before returning to Israeli territory.
Army Radio reported that the raid was more extensive than the other ground activities carried out in Gaza in the two and a half weeks since the start of “Operation Swords of Iron.”
Hamas terrorists murdered at least 1,400 Israelis and wounded more than 5,000 in a massive offensive launched from Gaza on Oct. 7, which included the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel, the infiltration of the Jewish state by terrorist forces and the abduction of hostages.
A total of 267 people are still hospitalized in Israel from the Oct. 7 attack.
Israel Air Force fighter jets have continued to hit Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on a daily and nightly basis since Oct. 7, with the military reporting on Thursday afternoon that the commander of Hamas’s northern Khan Younis rockets array, Hassan al-Abdullah, was killed in an Israeli strike.
IAF jets also struck Hamas terrorist infrastructure in the Strip on Thursday, including military command centers and rocket launch posts.
A terror rocket hit an apartment building in Petach Tikvah on Thursday afternoon during a massive barrage fired from Gaza at Tel Aviv and the Gush Dan region of central Israel.
Rocket warning sirens also sounded in Holon, Rishon LeZion, Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and surrounding communities.
Video footage taken shortly after the Petach Tikvah strike showed that the rocket slammed into a balcony and into a bedroom. No injuries were reported and firefighters arrived at the scene.
Meanwhile, seven people were lightly hurt in the northern Israeli city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha after an IDF drone fell on the balcony of their home, the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya reported on Thursday afternoon.
The hospital said that the patients — five adults and two children, ages 5 and 11 — were treated for smoke inhalation and anxiety and that they were all released except for a 66-year-old man hospitalized for further treatment.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a prime-time televised speech on Wednesday night that the IDF is preparing for a ground operation in Gaza, adding that the timing had been unanimously agreed on by the war cabinet and military establishment.
“We are working around the clock in order to execute the goals of our war until victory, and we do so without political considerations,” said Netanyahu.
“We have already killed thousands of terrorists and this is just the beginning,” he said. “All Hamas operatives must die, above ground, underground, inside Gaza and outside Gaza.”
Israel has reportedly acceded to an American request to delay its planned ground invasion of Gaza so that the U.S. can position air defenses to protect its forces in the region.
Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported on Thursday that the Israeli Defense Ministry is set to extend the evacuation order of communities located along the Gaza and Lebanese borders until Dec. 31.
Some 200,000 Israelis are displaced internally due to the ongoing war with Hamas in the south and rising tensions along the northern border due to Hezbollah.