The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that troops “deep in the Gaza Strip” were engaged in “fierce battles against Hamas terrorists” as soldiers and tanks pushed further into the Gaza Strip during the war against the terror group.
According to the military, ground and air forces attacked several Hamas positions and anti-tank missile units.
According to the IDF, troops killed dozens of terrorists and also seized weapons during fighting in urban areas.
The IDF provided no new information about possible Israeli casualties.
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IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said IDF ground forces would “fight terrorists at close range, heroically and courageously.” ”
“This is a dangerous conflict. It comes at a price,” Hagari added. “It is complex, but it is critical to our ability to achieve the war goals.”
The military also said it killed the commander of Hamas’s Beit Lahiya battalion, Nisam Abu Ajina, in a nighttime airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip.
According to the IDF, Abu Ajina was responsible for commanding the Hamas terrorists who carried out the deadly attack on Kibbutz Erez and Netiv Ha’asara on October 7.
The military said Abu Ajina previously commanded Hamas’s air force and worked on developing the terror group’s drones and paragliders used in the Oct. 7 attacks, and that “his elimination represents a serious blow to Hamas’s efforts to Terrorist group aims to disrupt the IDF’s ground operations in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday afternoon, four people were injured in two separate rocket hits, including one seriously, in Ashdod following rocket fire from Gaza.
Magen David Adom Ambulance Service said it was treating a 50-year-old man in serious condition with shrapnel injuries, as well as three men aged 64, 46 and 35 in good condition who were hit by broken glass.
They were all taken to the local Assuta Hospital.
Firefighters extinguish a car fire caused by a rocket strike in Ashdod on October 31, 2023. (Fire and rescue services)
In response to the October 7 massacres, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which rules Gaza, and to exhaust all options to ensure the freedom of all hostages taken to Gaza.
Hagari said the military has so far informed the families of 240 hostages that their relatives are being held in the Gaza Strip, bringing the confirmed number of people abducted on October 7 to at least 245. He said the number was not yet final and that the military was investigating new information.
Since the attack, Hamas has released four hostages – an American-Israeli mother and daughter and two elderly Israeli women – through the mediation of Qatar, which hosts both a U.S. military base and Hamas’ political bureau.
People walk between posters of hostage kidnappings by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip in Jerusalem, October 29, 2023 (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
On Monday it was announced that a soldier kidnapped by Hamas had been rescued from the Gaza Strip in a night operation. He was the first prisoner from the terrorist group’s shock attack on October 7 to be freed by Israeli troops.
In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security service said Pvt. Ori Megidish was in good condition and was rescued during a ground operation, without providing further details.
Megidish was an observation soldier and was taken hostage when terrorists stormed the Nahal Oz base over three weeks ago. She was believed to have been held alone, although other members of her unit were captured by Hamas in the attack.
IDF soldier Pvt. Ori Megidish (center) with her family after being rescued from Gaza, October 30, 2023. (Shin Bet)
Shin Bet and the IDF were not expected to provide further information about how Megidish was rescued from Hamas captivity so as not to jeopardize future operations.
Hagari said Monday that Megidish managed to remember everything she saw in the Gaza Strip, providing information that he said could be used in future operations.
Megidish’s return was welcomed by the Israeli leadership. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the operation was “proof” that Israel can rescue hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups.
Megidish was dragged into the Gaza Strip during the shock attack on southern Israel three weeks ago by Hamas and allied terror groups, when around 2,500 terrorists stormed across the Gaza border in a multi-pronged attack, killing over 1,400 people, most of them civilians, in their homes were slaughtered and at an outdoor music festival.
The prisoners, also mostly civilians, include women, the elderly and children, some of whom are still in diapers. It is not clear how many of them are still alive.
Mourners hug during the funeral of Meni and Ayelet Godard at Kibbutz Palmachim, Israel, Sunday, October 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
The announcement that Megidish had been rescued came hours after Hamas released a video showing three of the women it had taken hostage. The hostages, who appeared to have been filmed under duress, were identified as Danielle Aloni, Rimon Buchshtab Kirsht and Lena Trupanov.
Meanwhile, rocket fire continued into southern and central Israel on Tuesday, with one of the attacks damaging a house in the Eshkol Regional Council.
There were no injuries as the house was empty at the time. Communities on the northern and southern borders have been largely evacuated since the start of the war.
In addition to Gaza’s border towns, a barrage was also fired at an area of the Negev Desert near the southern city of Beersheba. The areas targeted include regions where many Bedouins live without access to suitable housing.
Several bombing raids were also launched in the direction of central Israel, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee.
Sirens were heard in Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Ramat Hasharon and Bnei Brak, among other locations.
A house was hit by a rocket in the Eshkol region on October 31, 2023. (Eshkol Regional Council)
As the fighting continued, the IDF released a radio recording of Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman telling troops operating in the Gaza Strip that there could be “no outcome other than victory.”
“Southern command stations, the commander is speaking. We are launching an attack on Hamas and the terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. Our goal is one: victory. No matter how long the fighting lasts, no matter how difficult it may be, there is no other outcome than victory,” said Finkelman.
“We will fight professionally and forcefully in light of the IDF values on which we were raised. Above all, this includes sticking to the mission and striving for victory,” he said.
“We will fight in the alleys, we will fight in the tunnels, we will fight where necessary. We will defeat the terrible enemy that stands before us,” Finkelman continued.
The head of the IDF’s Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman (center), is seen in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 30, 2023. (Israeli Defense Forces)
“My fighting brothers, the residents of Be’eri, Sderot, Nir Oz, Kfar Aza and the Western Negev communities, and with them the entire nation of Israel, are all looking at us now. Like me, they also trust you and believe in you. They are the generation of victory,” he said.
“Complete your tasks, defeat the enemy, and do it at full strength.”
As fighting intensifies, Israel is facing increasing calls for a ceasefire in the war against Hamas in Gaza, and on Friday a United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire without mention of Hamas was overwhelmingly approved.
On Monday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea that Israel would agree to a ceasefire with Hamas.
“I would like to make clear Israel’s position on a ceasefire. “Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the September 11 terrorist attack, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas,” he said in English during a press conference, according to foreign media.
View of cars destroyed by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attack in a field near the Israel-Gaza border, October 31, 2023 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
“After the terrible attacks of October 7, calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. “That will not happen,” he said.
Israel has vowed to eradicate the terror group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and has targeted all areas where the group operates while trying to minimize civilian casualties.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that 80 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were expected to enter the Gaza Strip in the coming hours, the largest number in a day since the start of the war.
A Palestinian family walks past rubble after an apparent Israeli attack in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023 (SAID KHATIB / AFP)
U.N. officials say the enclave needs at least 100 trucks worth of aid daily.
The United States and other allies have urged Israel to significantly increase the pace of aid deliveries to Gaza. Israel says it must check all shipments entering the Gaza Strip for weapons or other contraband, raising concerns that the goods could end up in the hands of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Israel has blocked aid imports from its side of the border but is increasingly allowing convoys from Egypt to enter, while asserting that there is no humanitarian crisis in the enclave and that Hamas has stockpiled supplies that it is withholding from increasingly desperate civilians.
Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report.