In the 11 days of Operation Guardian of the Walls, Israeli forces destroyed some 100 km. (62 miles) of Hamas' "Metro" network of tunnels in the Gaza Strip, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman reported Friday morning, listing the damage done to Hamas' terrorist infrastructure.
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Speaking hours after an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire took effect, Zilberman reported that some 200 Hamas operatives, including 25 high-ranking members, had been targeted and killed in IDF strikes.
Israeli forces also demolished some 340 rocket launching devices and 70 multiple rocket launchers with four to 18 barrels, as well as 35 assets used to launch mortars.
IDF strikes – executed through combined air, artillery, and naval operations – destroyed 10 of Hamas' government offices, 11 premises of its internal security forces, and five banks used by Hamas.
Israel also targeted and destroyed "dozens" of training camps and outposts, command and control center, and nine high-rise buildings that housed infrastructure used by Hamas, Zilberman added.
IDF strikes eliminated dozens of attack tunnels and openings designed to allow Hamas operatives to attack Israeli forces, such as shafts, openings, and structures; and several dozen anti-tank targets, as well as seven drones and UAVs, and two unspecified "maritime threats."
Zilberman also said that two attempts by Hamas operatives to deploy drone-operated parachutes had been thwarted, and said that Israel had damaged Hamas' manufacturing and development capabilities by targeted strikes on key R&D personnel and its manufacturing workshops and weapons and cyber research centers.
As for the performance of Israel's Iron Dome, Zilberman said that over the course of the operation, the system had intercepted 90% of incoming rockets deemed to pose a threat to populated areas.
After the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet voted on Thursday night to accept the ceasefire, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said, "the defense establishment maintains its willingness to defend the citizens of Israel, and the security forces and the IDF are deployed in the field, on all fronts, for defense and offense. The reality on the ground will decide how we continue to operate."
Gantz said that the IDF and Israel's other security forces had secured "military achievements unprecedented in their power, precision, and strategic significance" during Operation Guardian of the Walls.
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