The Israeli military said on Monday that the ongoing operation against Hamas was nowhere near a conclusion.
Monday marked the eighth day of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military said it conducted a third round of airstrikes against Hamas militant tunnels, also targeting the homes of nine alleged commanders of the militant organisation.
Rockets continued to be fired Monday morning at southern Israeli population centres on the border with the Gaza Strip.
Israel has thus far conducted the operation largely through its air force, without using ground troops, according to a senior air force official from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
“I would not rule anything out of possibility at this stage,’’ said the senior official speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We will stop when there are zero launches towards Israel.’’
The Gaza Strip has been under heavy Israeli fire since Hamas launched a missile attack against Jerusalem a week ago.
Israel responded with intensive airstrikes, with the operation dubbed by the military “Guardians of the Walls.’’
According to a senior air force official, hundreds of targets have been hit, including hundreds of kilometres of tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip, which the military says are used for Hamas’ operations against Israel.
Since the beginning of the round of violence, over 3,000 rockets have been fired into the Israeli territory. Israel estimates Hamas has around 15,000 rockets in its arsenal.
The official said the IDF has also thwarted six attempts by Hamas to send armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles into Israel in order to attack civilian targets.
The military has come under harsh criticism in recent days after it struck a building housing leading media organisations including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera.
The IDF claims the high-rise building was home to ‘significant’ Hamas military infrastructure including communication, command and control “used to manage and coordinate Hamas forces and collect intelligence.’’
On Sunday in the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed 42 Palestinians.
“Sometimes there is collateral damage and this is very unfortunate. We are appalled and sorry for every life lost,’’ said the senior official in a briefing for foreign journalists.
According to the military, the airstrikes that have targeted Hamas’ underground infrastructure has caused several buildings to collapse as a result of the heavy munition used to penetrate the underground targets.
“The targets were not the buildings that collapsed, but the Hamas ‘metro’ underground infrastructure,’’ the official added.
“This is a very complex balance between the value of the target and the value we see to human life and the overall strategic target of crippling Hamas’ capabilities.’’
Almost 200 Palestinians, including tens of children, have been killed in the current round of fighting.
Eight Israelis, a child included, have also been killed in the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
(Xinhua/NAN)
=====================About Us==============================
METROWATCH is an online daily newspaper founded in October 2013 by a seasoned reporter, Collins Edomaruse. He had risen to the position of General Editor in his 18 years stint at THISDAY newspaper, an appointment he resigned on October 30, 2013 to pursue his online newspaper publishing dream. Prior to his appointment as the newspaper’s General Editor, he had served, at various times, as Editor, Nation’s Capital; Group News Editor, Associate Editor, and Deputy Editor at different times for the newspaper’s three titles – Daily, Sunday and Saturday.
Edomaruse had covered education, sports, energy, national security, defence and transport beats among others. As a defence correspondent, Edomaruse traversed the war zones of both Liberia and Sierra-Leone in the dark days of Charles Taylor and Foday Sanko as warlords, which earned him the sobriquet “General” by his colleagues in the newsroom.
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