The Israeli military is targeting the terror group Hamas’ vast network of underground tunnels in Gaza that it uses to carry out attacks on the country, according to an update from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“Think of the Gaza Strip as one layer for the civilians and then another layer for Hamas. And what we’re doing now is that we are trying to get to that second layer that Hamas has built—by the way, only for itself, not to be accessed by the civilians.”
These tunnels are not bunkers where Gazan civilians can find safe space during Israeli strikes, he said. Instead, they are solely used by Hamas to continue firing rockets at Israel, to plan out terror operations, and to launch terrorists into Israel. “That’s the only thing that this network is for.”
“So that is what we’re attacking. And the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been striking a lot of targets in various neighborhoods in the Gaza,” Mr. Conricus said.
One of the areas “heavily targeted” by Israel in its recent series of strikes was a neighborhood in Gaza City that had “lots of cameras, infrastructure, and other facilities.” The spokesperson clarified that “the neighborhood wasn’t targeted, but specific military targets inside were targeted, and many of them were struck.”
The Israeli military is currently prioritizing striking Hamas senior officials and commanders “from all echelons,” Mr. Conricus stated.
“Whenever we have intelligence that indicates the whereabouts of a senior Hamas official or military commander, we strike in that location. And the places where we know that Hamas has the infrastructure—whether it is financial, or construction, or command and control, collection of intelligence, research, and development—whatever it is, if it belongs to Hamas, we are striking it,” he said.
Military Is ‘Destroying Hamas’
In an Oct. 12 press release, the IDF said it conducted a wave of strikes targeting the Nukhba elite forces of Hamas.“The Nukhba elite forces consist of terrorists selected by senior Hamas operatives, designated to carry out terrorist attacks such as ambushes, raids, assaults, infiltration through terror tunnels, as well as anti-tank missile, rocket, and sniper fire.”
The Nukhba were one of the leading forces that infiltrated Israel and carried out the attack on Saturday that triggered the current war. Strikes were targeted at Nukhba command centers used by terrorists involved in the Saturday attack.
In addition, IDF aircraft struck a senior Hamas operative, Muhammad Abu Shamla, whose residence was used to store naval weapons intended for attacks against Israel.
“Between Tuesday and Wednesday, we neutralized a murderous terrorist who had recorded every brutal act he committed. No terrorist is immune.”
The Lebanon Situation
According to updates from the IDF on Telegram, an incidence of infiltration from Lebanon into Israeli airspace was suspected on Wednesday.Civilians in certain areas were asked to enter shelters. IAF aircraft and IDF soldiers conducted searches in areas suspected of infiltration. However, the infiltration scenario was eventually ruled out.
On Monday, Israeli helicopter gunships struck areas near the Lebanese border and some regions within the Lebanese territory. The strikes came after gunmen coming from southern Lebanon tried to infiltrate Israel.
Except for an incident where Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile, the situation is “relatively stable on the Northern front.”
“In the Mediterranean, a U.S. battle group is making its way and I think almost arrived. I think there'll be positioned somewhere around here, northern part of Israel along the Lebanese coast at a safe and tactically wise distance from that area,” he said.
“And the message from the U.S. Central Command is one of presence and perhaps room for thought for any other Iranian proxies in the region—Hezbollah or anybody else—whether or not it would be wise to engage in escalating the war against Israel.”
