The Golani Brigade's 13th Battalion, which lost 41 soldiers and officers in Hamas' attack against Israel on October 7, led the fighting in the Gaza Strip Thursday overnight, where the battalion's forces eliminated 20 terrorists and operated in coordination with the forces from the Nahal Brigade and Armored and Combat Engineering Corps. Some of the nighttime battles involved infantry combat in addition to remote combat.
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Overnight, the soldiers encountered terrorist cells that fired anti-tank guided missiles, explosives and hand grenades against them. The troops engaged in prolonged battles with the terrorists, supported by heavy artillery and tank fire, while supplying aerial and naval forces targets to fire on. The IDF reported that dozens of terrorists were killed in these clashes.
Footage shared by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit showed the operations in the Gaza Strip and the aerial attacks that supported the ground forces. "We identified individuals on the second floor in the western part of the building; it’s a mosque with a terrorist cell inside that poses a threat to forces," soldiers reported over the radio, before the aerial strike.
In addition, the military reported that, during the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, Nahal Brigade soldiers encountered a terrorist cell that opened fire on them. The soldiers and the divisional artillery units directed aerial assets to carry out an airstrike against them, eliminating the terrorists.
Furthermore, IDF reserve soldiers cooperated with aerial forces and directed them to strike a terrorist cell carrying anti-tank missiles, which had planned to fire on the troops.
The IDF also noted that in recent days, soldiers eliminated numerous terrorists and directed aerial units to target Hamas' terrorist infrastructure. This included arms caches, weapon manufacturing sites, rocket-launching positions, and drone launching pads.