An attempted suicide bombing was foiled in Gaza when IDF troops directed an airstrike at a man wearing an explosive vest near them, the military said on Friday.
According to the IDF, 98th Division units spotted the suspect in Gaza City and called in an airstrike. After he was hit, secondary explosions confirmed he had been carrying explosives, the army said.
In a separate incident earlier in the day, Israeli warplanes struck what the military described as a Hezbollah site for manufacturing precision missiles in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. The IDF said the existence of the site violated understandings between Israel and Lebanon, adding that it “will continue to act to remove any threat to the State of Israel.”
The fighting in Gaza continues to take a toll. On Wednesday, the military said Staff Sgt. Chalachew Shimon Demalash, 21, of Be'er Sheva, was killed by a Hamas sniper in Gaza City. Demalash, a soldier in the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion, was shot while on guard duty. He was critically wounded and later died of his injuries. Troops launched a manhunt for the sniper but had not captured him.
Hezbollah site for manufacturing precision missiles in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley
(Video: IDF)
The IDF said the 98th Division is conducting operations in Gaza City under Operation Gideon’s Chariots II to destroy Hamas infrastructure above and below ground. The 36th Division has been targeting tunnel networks used by terrorists, while the 162nd Division is also active in Gaza City and the 99th Division is fighting in the northern Gaza Strip. Over the past 24 hours, the air force struck more than 140 targets across the enclave, the military said.
Along Israel’s northern border, the army last week carried out broad strikes on Hezbollah’s Radwan Force weapons depots in southern Lebanon. Officials said civilians had been evacuated from the area in advance, a process that took about three hours. The IDF said its Northern Command now strikes Hezbollah targets, including operatives and commanders, roughly every other day — without a direct military response from the Lebanese group.