The Israeli military bombarded targets in the Gaza Strip overnight and said it had secured its breached border barrier with the enclave, three days after an unprecedented incursion by the militant group Hamas into Israel triggered the country’s worst war in decades.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes, according to the UN, after Hamas fighters breached the Gaza border and poured into Israel, killing hundreds and bringing fierce Israeli bombardment in response from the sea and the air.
The Israel Defense Forces said its targets included what it said was a Hamas operational command centre in a mosque, an entry point for a tunnel used by militants and other “operational infrastructure” inside a second mosque.
The Financial Times could not independently confirm the claims. Israel accuses the Palestinian group, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, of embedding military infrastructure in civilian areas and holy sites.