The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported the destruction of the main rocket and weapons manufacturing industrial zone of the Hamas movement in the central part of the Gaza Strip, as well as an extensive tunnel network under it, Paralel.Az reports citing The Times of Israel.

The IDF has completed the destruction of Hamas’s main rocket and weapons manufacturing industrial zone. This came as troops reached the southernmost point of their ground offensive in Gaza, intensifying operations in the south of the Palestinian enclave, the newspaper said.

Separate weapons production facilities were shown to journalists during a press tour earlier this month along Salah a-Din road in the Bureij area. The IDF recently reported the discovery of additional underground facilities in the Maghazi area. Soldiers from the the 36th Division, the Yahalom combat engineering unit, and Air Force’s Shaldag unit identified and destroyed dozens of tunnel shafts in the area of Salah a-Din road in central Gaza, leading to hundreds of kilometers of underground passages, the Times of Israel reported.

Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant called the elimination of Hamas' underground infrastructure one of the main goals of the military operation in Gaza.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported on the West Bank.