The IDF said Tuesday it had completed an operation to expand its security buffer near the Gaza border, destroying a Hamas tunnel in the process as part of its ongoing campaign to dismantle terror infrastructure.
Troops from the IDF's 188th Armored Brigade conducted the mission in the southern Gaza area of Khirbet Ikhza’a, which the military described as a central Hamas stronghold. The army said dozens of militants were killed and over 1,200 above- and below-ground terror infrastructure sites were destroyed during the operation, which included airstrikes and engineering activity.
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Among the sites demolished, the military said, was a 500-meter (1,640-foot) tunnel located about 25 meters (82 feet) underground, across from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The army said the tunnel’s destruction was part of a broader effort to remove threats to Israeli communities near the border.
“This area served as a staging ground for hundreds of Hamas operatives who took part in the October 7 attack on southern Israeli towns,” the military said in a statement.
Earlier Tuesday, a projectile launched from northern Gaza toward Zikim beach was intercepted. It was the first such attack from Gaza since May 31. No injuries or damage were reported.
UN accuses Israel of ‘extermination’ in Gaza
The operation came as a United Nations commission again accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity during the ongoing war. Navi Pillay, chair of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said Israel had launched a “concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life.”
The report, which will be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 17, states that more than 90% of Gaza’s educational institutions and over half of its religious and cultural sites have been destroyed by Israeli forces.
Pillay said these strikes would damage both current and future generations and impede Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
Israel, which withdrew from the council in February citing bias, rejected the findings. It has repeatedly accused Hamas and other militant groups of embedding command centers, weapons stockpiles and tunnel shafts in and around civilian infrastructure, including schools, mosques and hospitals, effectively turning them into military targets under international law.
Israeli officials have also dismissed the commission’s previous reports as politically motivated and antisemitic.
Hamas reports deaths at Gaza aid center; IDF denies targeting
Separately, Hamas claimed at least 17 people were killed and dozens injured by Israeli fire near a U.S.-supported aid distribution site in Gaza. The group also said three paramedics were killed in a separate incident in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood.
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The IDF said its troops had fired warning shots overnight to deter individuals who approached the Wadi Gaza area, which remains an active combat zone. The shots, it said, were fired hundreds of meters from the aid center before its opening hours and were directed at individuals deemed a threat. The army said an initial review suggested the number of reported casualties did not match its own data.
The aid organization involved has not commented directly on the incident, but previously accused Hamas of threatening staff and attempting to disrupt distribution efforts. Aid centers were shut Saturday after threats and violence allegedly carried out by Hamas operatives.
Despite those concerns, some international outlets and organizations blamed Israel for the casualties, citing Hamas’ claims. The IDF denied targeting the aid site and said it had no knowledge of any injuries resulting from Israeli fire in the area.