חיל האוויר
חיל האווירצילום: דובר צה"ל

Hamas suffered a fatal blow to its rocket production capabilities, as well as to its overall operational capabilities last night when at least 15 senior members were killed by the IDF along with dozens of lesser Hamas officials working in command and control positions.

Hamas will need years to rehabilitate its research and development capabilities, as senior Hamas engineers in the Gaza Strip have been eliminated. There are few Hamas operatives who are capable of emulating their expertise in rocket science. IDF fighter jets and helicopters struck most of Hamas' research and development sites as well, destroying laboratories and workshops. Hamas' rocket production capacity has been severely damaged.

The most significant damage was done to Hamas' production sites underground, creating a bottleneck in their production capacity that will prevent any new rockets from being manufactured in Gaza for at least a month. Other targets included multiple infrastructure tunnels for all purposes, estimated to have been collapsed while significant Hamas forces were still inside.

The IDF and GSS have been working together to carry out Israel's signature assassinations, targeting the upper crust of Hamas leadership. Not all of these attempts have been successful, but Israeli security forces have nevertheless managed to kill off several highly placed commandants of various cities in Gaza.

Hams has recently brought suicide drones into the conflict. The IDF reports having brought down several of these, using various means, including hacking the drone and landing it safely.