Israel Says It Found Hamas Cruise Missile Facility ‘Under Iranian Guidance’

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday that it discovered an underground facility in the northern Gaza Strip that had been used to make cruise missiles, “under Iranian guidance,” that could have targeted sites in Israel with more accuracy than rockets.

In a statement, the IDF said:

Over the past few weeks, the Nahal Brigade combat team in the 162nd Division has been operating in the Daraj Tuffah area in the northern Gaza Strip. In cooperation with the Intelligence Directorate and special forces, the troops located a Hamas strategic tunnel shaft, leading to a 100-meter-long tunnel, in which a weapons production site was located.

As part of these intelligence efforts regarding this weapons production site, the forces located findings that prove that Hamas terrorists learned – under Iranian guidance – how to operate and build precise components and strategic weapons, and gained technological knowledge in the field.

During the targeted raids, several terrorists were killed in close-quarters combat with the troops and in supporting air strikes.

The IDF also uncovered rocket launchers dug into the ground.

Sunday marked three months since the October 7 terror attack by Hamas. Israeli leaders marked the occasion by warning Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror group in southern Lebanon, not to provoke Israel into launching a war to remove it.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a statement at the start of a cabinet meeting [via Government Press Office translation]:

I have a clear message for our enemies: What happened on October 7 will not happen again. This is the commitment of my government and this is the reason why our soldiers in the field are giving their lives. Our commanders and soldiers, conscripts and reservists, in the north and the south, repeat one thing: ‘We are not coming back – until we carry out [the mission]’ and I say: “We are not stopping – until victory.”

The war must not be stopped until we achieve all of its goals: Eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel. I say this to both our enemies and our friends. This is our responsibility and this is our commitment.

Every other consideration must be set aside, and we must continue until total victory. This victory will be achieved only when we complete our goals and when we restore security to residents of the north and south alike.

I suggest that Hezbollah learn what Hamas has already learned in recent months: No terrorist is immune. We are determined to defend our citizens and to return the residents of the north safely to their homes. This is a national goal that we all share and which we are all working to achieve responsibly. If we can, we will do so diplomatically, and if not, we will work in other ways.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets and anti-tank missiles sporadically at Israel in a largely symbolic, albeit deadly, show of support for Hamas that threatens to escalate into a second front in the war.

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 2021 e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now updated with a new foreword. 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.