The advance of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in northern Gaza has continued this week, with Israeli soldiers winning intense gunfights with Hamas terrorists and discovering caches of weapons and explosives — including one next to a children’s room.
In a statement Thursday, the IDF said:
IDF soldiers discovered a Hamas weapons manufacturing and storage facility used to produce and store UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] and weapons. The site was located in a residential building, in close proximity to schools in the center of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza.
In the building, Hamas’ explosives and operational plans were found right next to a childrens’ [sic] bedroom.
The IDF provided photos of the discovery.
The IDF also fought a pitched 10-hour battle to seize a Hamas base in Jabaliya, according to the Times of Israel:
It says troops located many weapons and uncovered tunnel shafts, including one located adjacent to a kindergarten that led to an “extensive underground route.”
The Israel Defense Forces says troops of the Nahal Infantry Brigade captured a Hamas stronghold, known as outpost 17, in west Jabaliya after 10 hours of fighting.
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Troops also found “significant” Hamas battle plans in outpost 17, the IDF adds.
The IDF also released photos of the Sinai Division’s activities.
The media often refer to Jabaliya as a “refugee camp,” when it is also a key Hamas stronghold, deliberately placed among Palestinian civilians.
In a separate statement, the IDF said that the entire 252nd division, also known as the Sinai Division, is fighting in the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas terrorists and demolishing their tunnels.
The IDF reported Thursday that it had also killed a key Hamas commander in charge of anti-tank missiles.
Despite the battles, the IDF has opened an evacuation corridor for Palestinian civilians to move from northern Gaza to the south every day for the past five days from 10:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m. and, at times, even later.
Update: There have been 34 confirmed Israeli military deaths in the ground invasion of Gaza. There have been hundreds of Hamas terrorists killed, and perhaps thousands since Israel began responding to the terror attacks of October 6.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.