IAF launches massive strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting at minimum 150 targets, including the home of Hamas’s chief commander, according to reports; troops have killed 18 infiltrating gunmen over the past 24 hours

On Wednesday, the death toll of the Palestinian terror group Hamas’s shocking attack on Israel last Saturday exceeded 1,200. Over 3,000 people were injured. The fate of 150 abducted persons and taken to Gaza Strip is still unknown.

Hebrew media reported that the death toll had reached a dreadful 1,000 by late Tuesday, as Zaka, an organization of volunteers who handle human remains following terror attacks or other disasters, cleared and collected bodies in communities located in southern Israel.

According to reports, the military reported that this number had risen to 1200 by Wednesday morning.

Later, the Health Ministry reported that 3,007 injuries had occurred, including 28 critical and 345 serious, with nearly 500 people still hospitalized.

On Tuesday, soldiers and civilians across Israel held funerals in the wake of the massacre and mass infiltration on Saturday.

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, security forces continued to battle terrorists in southern Israel.

IDF spokesperson Rear Admir. Daniel Hagari stated that troops exchanged fire with terrorists twice overnight near Zikim; a tank had killed a terrorist at the Erez Crossing and paratrooper forces had killed two terrorists in Mefalsim.

Hagari, in a press briefing at 8 am on Wednesday morning, said that Israeli forces killed 18 Palestinian terrorists within the past 24 hours in Israeli territory, while sweeps were continuing to find the last Hamas infiltrators.

They are the same terrorists that did not return to Gaza. They are hiding in places near the border. It’s because of this that the scans [are] being conducted with so many troops. He said that there are tens and thousands of [IDF] soldiers in the area around Gaza.

Troops killed three Palestinian terrorists in the vicinity of Ashkelon, a southern coastal city. The 17th Battalion troops, a drone, and a combat helicopter, which provided air support, engaged the three gunmen near the Ashkelon Industrial Zone, just outside of the city.

The military reported that a fire had broken out during the incident.

On Wednesday, the IDF reported that forces killed a Hamas divestor who was trying to infiltrate through the sea early in the morning. The military said that artillery fire was fired from missile boats, helicopters, and ground artillery at the Khan Younis docks and Gaza City docks by Hamas to “carry out terror attacks against the Israeli coast.”

The terrorists in Gaza continue to fire rockets into Israeli cities and towns. On Wednesday morning, at least four buildings were directly hit by projectiles from Gaza in the southern town of Sderot. Magen David Adom’s ambulance service reported that its medics were treating an injured man in his 40s, who had been moderately injured by shrapnel from a rocket.

The IDF reported that terrorist groups have launched more than 5,000 missiles at Israel in the past seven days.

According to the military, Air Force jets have hit more than 70 Hamas targets within the Gaza City district at-Tuffah and a military facility operated by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The military claimed that the area was a “terrorist’s nest” and a base from which Hamas conducted operations against Israel. The military also said that a structure used by Palestinian Islamic Jihad had been targeted.

The military also said that they had struck more than 80 sites at Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning. The IDF reported that dozens of fighter jets were used to carry out the attacks against the targets. These included two Hamas-owned bank branches, an underground Hamas tunnel, as well as several war rooms and other military facilities.

According to Palestinian media, overnight airstrikes hit the homes of Mohammad Deif’s relatives in the Qizan an-Najjar area of Khan Younis.

According to reports, the jets struck the father’s home, killing his brother, son and granddaughter.

The IDF had earlier announced that it had struck Abu Obeida’s home in the Gaza Strip, Hamas spokesman for the military wing. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic language spokesman, wrote in a post to X about the spokesman “working to direct terrorism towards the State of Israel.”

Early Tuesday, the IDF carried out strikes on Syria and Lebanon after mortars were fired toward northern Israel.

Israel Defense Forces reported that 15 rockets fired from Lebanon were launched at Western Galilee. This triggered sirens across several towns. The Iron Dome system intercepted four projectiles, and the rest fell in open spaces, without causing any damage or injury, according to the IDF.

In a first statement, the military said that artillery had been used to respond to the rocket attacks. Later, it said that tanks had shelled posts belonging to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah claimed to have launched the anti-tank guided missiles, while Hamas took responsibility for the rocket attack.

On Tuesday evening, several mortars were fired by Syria towards the Golan Heights. IDF stated that several projectiles entered Israeli territory, but landed in areas where there was no damage.

In response, the IDF claimed it had carried out artillery attacks in Syria, aiming at the source of the mortars.

Israeli warplanes bombarded the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, neighborhood by neighborhood. They reduced buildings to rubble, and sent people running to seek safety within the closed-off area.

Israel has pledged to prevent Hamas from repeating its weekend massacre of hundreds of Israeli citizens.

Aid agencies pleaded with the creation of humanitarian pathways to deliver aid into Gaza. They warned that hospitals were out of supplies due to being overwhelmed by wounded patients. Israel has blocked all food, fuel, and medicine entering Gaza in an effort to eliminate Hamas’s military capabilities. The only remaining route from Egypt was shut down after airstrikes near the border crossing.

Gaza’s Hamas health ministry claims that 950 Palestinians have died in Israeli strikes in retaliation. Israel claims it targets terrorist infrastructure, including all Hamas-controlled areas. Jerusalem also claims that its forces have killed 1,500 Hamas terrorists infiltrating its territory since Saturday.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, warned Monday night that “we’ll turn into a city in ruins” wherever Hamas is active.

Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden that he had never witnessed such barbarism in the history and “since the Holocaust” of Israel.

They bound up dozens of kids, burned them, and then executed them. They beheaded soldiers