IDF Strikes Gaza, Eliminating Terrorists and Destroying Weapons Depots

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Friday that it had eliminated three terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in airstrikes in Gaza City on Thursday. According to the IDF spokesperson, the individuals were advancing terror plots and working to restore the terror organizations' capabilities. Two of the eliminated terrorists were identified as members of the Islamic Jihad's military wing: Husam Walid Hassan Abu Al-Ata, who served as a commander in the organization's rocket department, and Magdi Ma'een Yusef Al-Ayyoubi, an activist in the military wing. The third, Mohammed Aja, was a company commander in Hamas's military wing.

Concurrently, the IDF and Shin Bet conducted airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, destroying four weapons depots belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The IDF stated that these depots stored dozens of various weapons, including rockets, explosives, mortars, Kalashnikov rifles, and other military equipment. The military emphasized that prior warnings were issued to the civilian population before the strikes to minimize the risk of collateral damage, and that precision munitions and aerial surveillance were used. Forces from the Southern Command are deployed in the Strip and will continue to operate to neutralize immediate threats and prevent the rebuilding of the terror groups' military capabilities.

In a separate incident, police arrested a man in his 20s from the village of Dura al-Asal, west of Hebron, on suspicion of incitement to terrorism and praising the October 7th massacre. According to police, the suspect posted content online on Wednesday, the three-year anniversary of the Hamas attack, glorifying the massacre. One of his posts reportedly read, "The morning of October 7th is approaching. The memory will remain as long as there is a pulse in the heart."