Israeli forces attack Hamas gunmen inside Gaza tunnel

ISRAEL says its forces attacked Hamas gunmen inside the Islamists’ vast tunnel network beneath Gaza, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a halt to fighting to ease humanitarian crisis.

The tunnels are a key objective for Israel as it expands ground operations inside Gaza to wipe out the ruling Islamist Hamas movement following its surprise attack three weeks ago that Israeli authorities say killed more than 1400 people.

“Over the last day, combined IDF combat forces struck approximately 300 targets, including anti-tank missile and rocket launch posts below shafts, as well as military compounds inside underground tunnels belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization,” the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

Militants responded with anti-tank missiles and machine gun fire, it added.

Israeli armed forces also bombed Gaza overnight in air, sea and ground attacks, targeting northwestern areas of the Palestinian enclave where Israeli troops were operating on the ground, witnesses said.

The United States and Arab countries have urged Israel to delay any ground operation that would multiply the number of civilian casualties and might ignite a wider conflict.

Air raid sirens went off in the area of the Israeli Red Sea city of Eilat on Tuesday and Israel’s military said it downed an approaching “aerial target”.

“There was no threat or risk to civilians,” it added.

Witnesses said Israeli forces targeted Gaza’s main north-south road on Monday and attacked Gaza City from two directions. Israel said its troops freed a soldier from Hamas captivity.

Hamas has so far released four civilians from the 240 hostages Israel says were captured in the October 7 attacks. Many of the hostages are believed to held in the tunnels.

The al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, said militants clashed early on Tuesday with Israeli forces “invading the southern Gaza axis,” adding that four vehicles were targeted with al-Yassin 105 missiles, referring to locally produced anti-tank missiles.

Reuters was unable to confirm the reports of fighting. Israel’s military had no immediate comment.

Gaza health authorities say 8306 people, including 3457 minors, have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. UN officials say more than 1.4 million of Gaza’s civilian population of about 2.3 million have been made homeless.