Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on February 8 that troops of the Commando Brigade captured dozens of suspects in the western part of the city Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip over the past day, including two who participated in the October 7 attack and another member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force.
Also in Khan Younis, the Maglan commando unit killed two fighters from close range and then spotted and killed a third fighter on the roof of a school, according to the IDF.
During a Maglan raid on the home of a Hamas operative, the IDF said troops found a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, diving equipment and ammunition.
The Paratroopers and Givati brigades killed more than 20 Hamas fighters during an offensive against the group’s sites in Khan Younis, the IDF says.
Meanwhile, in northern Gaza, the IDF said that the 401st Armored Brigade killed at least ten fighters during several encounters. The troops also called in an airstrike against a Hamas cell that fired missiles at a tank.
In addition, the Border Defense Corps’ 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit spotted a cell trying to deliver “technological systems” to Hamas, and struck them with a drone, according to the IDF.
In central Gaza, the Nahal Brigade killed several more Hamas fighters over the past day, as well as destroyed Hamas infrastructure, the IDF said.
The IDF didn’t mention anything about civilian casualties. However, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said on February 8, that the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s deadly offensive against the Strip has jumped to 27,840. Some 67,317 others have been wounded so far.
“Israeli attacks left 130 people dead and 170 others injured in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said in a statement. “Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads and rescuers can’t reach them.”
Despite the increasing number of civilian casualties and the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel appears to be determined to go on with its war on Hamas. Senior Israeli officials are even talking about expanding ground operations in the Strip to include the area of Rafah on the border with Egypt.
