Intensive fighting continued throughout the Gaza Strip Friday as Jerusalem and international actors awaited Hamas’s officials response to a proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal.
And with Saturday set to be the 120th day of the Israel-Hamas war, a new milestone was set this week as the conflict became Israel’s longest open war since 1948’s War of Independence. Though that war, at some 20 months, is unlikely to be surpassed, the war is now longer than the First Lebanon War (1982; 116 days), and far longer than the Second Lebanon War (2006; 34 days), the Yom Kippur War (1973; 19 days) and the Six Day War (1967; six days).
There is no clear end in sight to the ongoing war, with Israel insisting that even should a deal be struck for a truce and the release of Israeli captives, such a pause would be temporary and the war will not end until Hamas is removed from power in the territory.
The Israel Defense Forces said Friday that troops killed dozens of Hamas gunmen in the Khan Younis area over the past day, raiding several Hamas sites in the area, seizing weapons and carrying out strikes on Hamas cells and buildings used by terror operatives.
Meanwhile, in central Gaza, the Navy carried out strikes along the Strip’s coast, aiding ground forces of the Nahal Brigade which is operating in the area, the IDF said.
Separately, in an unusual incident overnight, the IDF said the Iron Dome intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that infiltrated Israeli airspace from Gaza. An alert had sounded on the Home Front Command’s mobile app in open areas, but not in any towns.
Meanwhile, the IDF said troops fighting in Gaza had recovered documents detailing the use by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad of mosques for terror purposes.
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