Israeli air strikes in Gaza intensified overnight Monday and Tueday after a fierce day of fighting on Monday left 10 Israeli soldiers dead.
Their funerals took place at military cemeteries across Israel Tuesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday evening of more painful days ahead.
53 Israeli soldiers, two civilians and a foreign worker have been confirmed killed in three weeks of fighting, while Gazan health officials put the death toll there at 1,200. Israel says hundreds of those are Hamas terrorists.
IDF soldiers from the Givati infantry brigade engaged and killed five Hamas terrorists who emerged from a tunnel to launch an attack. The Israeli forces seized a large amount of weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles, bullets and explosives.
Meanwhile, the IDF said that it is looking into an incident in which a shell apparently hit a United Nations school in Gaza, killing several people. On Tuesday a major power plant in Gaza was struck, although the IDF did not provide any explanation over the attack.
Also among the targets were several symbols of Hamas rule, including a television station, the Finance Ministry and the home of Hamas’s political leader in Gaza, Ismael Haniyeh, which was destroyed with no casualties reported.
The Israeli security cabinet is set to meet Wednesday to discuss whether to expand the ground offensive or halt it, after some in the IDF said most of the Hamas cross-border tunnels have been found and are being demolished.