According to the Israel Defense Forces, in this air campaign, which lasted nearly 40 minutes, some 450 missiles were dropped on 150 targets in northern Gaza, particularly around the city of Beit Lahiya. The military said it was still working to determine the extent of the damage caused to the underground infrastructure, which IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman told reporters was a “strategic asset” to Hamas, and the number of terrorist operatives killed in the strikes.
In addition to the aerial assault, Israeli tanks, artillery cannons and infantrymen on the Gaza border conducted accompanying barrages at Hamas operatives — specifically anti-tank guided missiles and rocket-launching teams — who came out during the assault to conduct attacks on Israeli targets, Zilberman said.
He clarified that the ground troops remained on Israel’s side of the border and did not enter the Gaza Strip, despite earlier claims to the contrary by the IDF, causing incorrect reports of a ground invasion to spread through leading news outlets around the world. The spokesman said the military was investigating what caused the “miscommunication.”
In total, some 500 artillery shells — some flares and some explosive — along with 50 tank shells were fired during this subsequent bombardment. Palestinians in Gaza reported that the Israeli strike lasted over an hour and caused a number of casualties, though an exact tally was not immediately available.
Zilberman said the operation was the result of large amounts of intelligence and careful planning. The military released video footage (above) showing both its preparations for the attack and some of the strikes themselves on the tunnel network, which the IDF refers to as “the metro.”
The IDF spokesman said that throughout early Friday morning, the military conducted further attacks on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in the Strip, specifically rocket production facilities and additional anti-tank guided missile teams.
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