The IAF targeted the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza on Monday, hitting approximately 40 targets including weapons storehouses, rocket launching sites and dozens of weapons smuggling tunnels under the Philadelphi Route along the southern border.
Gaza media outlets reported several civilians killed in ongoing fighting between IDF ground soldiers and Hamas terrorists. Members of two families were killed in explosions, media said. Gaza residents blamed Israel for the blasts; the claims could not be confirmed.
IDF ground soldiers succeeded in arresting dozens of terrorists on Sunday and Monday. Detainees were taken to special interrogation centers set up along the Gaza border.
Few Gaza terrorists have been arrested in the three years since Israel left the region. A handful were detained after infiltrating the western Negev.
Commanders said soldiers would continue to arrest enemy combatants whenever possible, in order to gather information on terrorist activity and organizations in the area. Some of the detainees will be brought to trial, and could later be bartered for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, they added.
Seven soldiers were wounded on Monday, bringing the total number of IDF casualties to 66. One soldier has been killed, six were seriously wounded, six moderately wounded and 53 lightly wounded.
Civilians in Gaza have begun to flee from the fighting, according to a Ma'ariv reporter residing in Gaza. The IDF dropped pamphlets over several Gaza villages and neighborhoods before fighting began warning civilians to leave the area, but many remained.