The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced this Friday that their fighters killed around a hundred Palestinian Islamic terrorists in the Strip in the last week in their military operation in Shujaiya, a neighborhood in the southeast of Gaza City, where the troops returned last Thursday.
"Since the beginning of operational activities in Shujaiya, troops have eliminated some 100 terrorists, dismantled more than 100 terrorist infrastructure sites and located large quantities of weapons," said a military statement.
On the last day, Israeli forces eliminated "several terrorists" who fired at troops, in addition to having killed "dozens" in hand-to-hand combat and artillery tank fire.
The Israel Defense Forces returned last Thursday, June 27, to Shujaiya for the third time, a Hamas stronghold in Gaza City where they already carried out an intense military incursion in December, and returned for several days in April due to the return and regrouping of the troops of the terrorist group.
One of the attacks in Shujaiya was carried out against a Palestinian terrorist who launched rockets yesterday at the community of Nahal Oz in southern Israel. The IDF detailed that the terrorist was identified and bombed two minutes after his attack against the border community.
Since they resumed the military operation a week ago, almost a dozen soldiers have died in Shujaiya: yesterday Sergeant Eyal Mimran, 20 years old from the Parachute Brigade, fell in combat; and two others died the day before.
In total, the IDF has recorded 325 casualties in its ranks since the ground operation in the Gaza Strip began at the end of October.
In Rafah
In addition, troops continue their "intelligence-based operational activity" in the Rafah area, the southern end of the enclave, where in the last day they "eliminated dozens of terrorists and dismantled several booby-trapped structures in the area."
The Israel Defense Forces have been operating in Rafah since early May, when there were 1,4 million displaced people in that city - more than half of the Gazan population - although now only about 60.000 remain; and according to military sources the operation in the area could conclude by the end of July.
The IDF has maintained a constant presence in the center of the Strip since November, where it has also dismantled several "terrorist" cells and infrastructure.
In the last 24 hours, the Air Force attacked more than 50 military targets of Hamas and other groups such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad throughout the enclave, "including booby-trapped structures, armed terrorist cells and launch sites."
Agencies contributed to this Aurora article
This war, not sought by Israel, was provoked by Hamas and authorized and planned by Iran. This war requires a preparation beyond all historical logic of previous wars where human shields play a very important role due to the importance of victims, traps and hiding places hidden on and under the land