Terrorists fired two rockets toward the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on the evening of September 8.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in the area of Ashkelon, two projectiles were identified crossing from northern Gaza into Israeli territory. One projectile was intercepted, and another fell off the coast of Ashkelon,” the IDF said in a statement. The next day, the IDF called on civilians to evacuate an area in the northern Gaza Strip from which it said terrorists had fired the rockets.
The projectiles targeting Ashkelon illustrate the persistent challenge the IDF faces in Gaza. While rocket fire from Gaza has reduced significantly since the beginning the war, it nevertheless continues. Sirens sound in border areas once every few days. Terrorist groups in Gaza have also attempted to fire longer-range rockets at cities such as Ashkelon, usually once a month.
Within Gaza, the IDF is focused on controlling two corridors, one on the southern border with Egypt and also the central Netzarim Corridor, which essentially cuts off Gaza City from the rest of Gaza to the south. Hamas still controls Gaza City and the central camps region of Gaza, plus areas within Khan Younis. The IDF recently wrapped up its latest operations in Khan Younis after several raids there in July and August.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the Netzarim Corridor on September 8 and vowed Israel would eliminate Hamas leaders in Gaza. “We will reach Muhammad Sinwar and also Yahya Sinwar. Anyone who thinks otherwise should look at Marwan Issa [and] Muhammad Deif: They also thought they were immune, they are not with us today, they made their mistake. [Sinwar] will also make his mistake, [and] we will carry out our mission,” Gallant said.
Gallant visited an area where the IDF’s 16th Reserve Brigade is active. It is one of the units under the 252nd IDF Division tasked with securing the Netzarim Corridor. Since the IDF took control of the corridor in November and began to make its presence semi-permanent, it has rotated reserve brigades in and out of the area, usually pairing infantry and armored units in operations. “The soldiers of the 16th Brigade are operating in the Gaza Strip for the second time since the beginning of the war,” the IDF noted.
According to an IDF statement on September 9, the 16th Reserve Brigade raided an area in Zeitoun “where terrorists had embedded themselves,” and the IDF “eliminated dozens of terrorists and dismantled numerous terrorist infrastructure.” The Zeitoun neighborhood, next to Gaza City, has been the target of numerous raids since January. The latest raid uncovered a tunnel shaft and a machine used to make weapons, though the IDF did not specify which type.
In southern Gaza, the IDF carried out more raids in Rafah, where troops fought terrorists and found weapons. The IDF claimed that Hamas’s Rafah Brigade was defeated in August, indicating that the continued clashes likely result from Hamas seeking to re-infiltrate the area. The 401st IDF Armored Brigade, which has been operating in Rafah since May, eliminated “dozens of terrorists” in the Kasbah area of Tel al-Sultan, the IDF said on September 8.
“During one of the raids, terrorists who were embedded in a building threw a grenade toward the troops from the 932nd Battalion. The troops returned fire and engaged in close-quarters combat with the terrorists, eliminating them. The terrorists who were eliminated were found to have weapons and numerous intelligence documents,” stated the IDF.
In other areas of Gaza, the IDF conducted a series of targeted airstrikes. In general, the number of airstrikes and the overall tempo Gaza operations have reduced over the last few months. On September 8, the IDF said it eliminated Raef Omar Salman Abu Shab, a Hamas commander in charge of a rocket-launching platoon in Khan Younis. In Deir al-Balah, a town in central Gaza, the IDF said it targeted Abdallah Khatib and Abu Aljidian, two commanders in Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Both were killed, the IDF assessed. The IDF has never taken control of Deir al-Balah, and Hamas and PIJ seemingly maintain significant forces in the town and surrounding areas.
On September 7, an Israeli airstrike hit the Amr Ibn al-As School in northern Gaza, which the IDF said Hamas had transformed into a command-and-control center. It was “used by Hamas terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel. Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence,” the IDF added.
Israel has accused Hamas of using numerous schools in Gaza as cover throughout 11 months of war. In recent months, the IDF has carried out strikes on some of these schools while stating they were employed as command-and-control centers.
