IDF spokesman confirms strikes on homes of senior Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar and his brother, as well as the head of Hamas’ R&D program. IDF also targeting multiple rocket launchers.
Hamas fired some 120 rockets at Israel between 7 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday, the IDF reported Sunday morning.
About 11 of the rockets missed Israel entirely and landed in the Gaza Strip, while Israel’s air defenses intercepted several dozen more that were tracking toward populated areas.
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman said Sunday that some 130 Hamas terrorists have been killed in IDF strikes since the start of Operation Guardian of the Walls, which entered its seventh day on Sunday.
Zilberman confirmed that the IDF had targeted the homes of senior Hamas leaders in Gaza.
“We attacked the home of Yahya Sinwar in Khan Younis and the home of his brother, who is responsible for personnel and logistics in Hamas. Both homes serve as bases for terrorism. These were only part of the strikes on [Hamas] operatives’ homes. Overnight, we also attacked the home of the Zeitoun brigade commander, head of Hamas’ research and development,” he said.
Zilberman noted that the focus of Israel’s strike had been Hamas leaders; rocket launchers, and continued attacks on Hamas’ “Metro” underground tunnel network.
“We will continue to deepen our attacks on Hamas … overnight, we continued our operation against Hamas’ tunnel network. We carried out the second stage of the operation to destroy its Metro in the northern and central parts of Gaza. This is a massive attack, although less than Thursday’s.”
“There are more stages to come, including a methodical offensive against its attack tunnels. Right now, various officials in the terrorist organization are afraid to go underground – not only leaders, but operatives, as well. No one wants to ‘ride’ the Metro,” Zilberman said.
In addition, he explained, since Friday the IDF had successfully taken out 45 multiple rocket launchers, nearly one per hour. “We are targeting their rocket launchers that propel rockets to a lot of different places in Israel,” he said.
According to Zilberman, Hamas and the other terrorist groups in Gaza could fire every hour, but they were not taking into account the need to conserve ammunition.
Early Sunday, Hamas launched a spate of rocket attacks on southern Israel early Sunday following a night of heavy Israeli airstrikes against its infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
Shortly after midnight Saturday, Hamas unleashed dozens of rockets toward central Israel and the coastal plain region, amid threats to aim at Tel Aviv. Overnight Saturday, Israeli Air Force aircraft continued to operate, with one of its strikes targeting a Hamas military intelligence site.
Overnight Saturday, the IDF published a list of the targets the IAF had eradicated throughout the day, as well as some of the senior members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who have been confirmed dead since the beginning of Operation Guardian of the Walls.
(Israel Hayom).