IDF forces from Division 36 identified about 13 armed militants with Kalashnikovs, some with RPGs, lying in ambush for soldiers in Khan Younis. According to one assessment, their goal was to kidnap soldiers. The forces, which included troops from Battalion 13 of the Golani Brigade and Brigade 188, identified the ambush and subsequently deployed an aircraft that spotted the militants, who heard it and escaped into an underground tunnel.