The IDF's elite Maglan unit recently discovered rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) during a precision raid on a terrorist-occupied building in Rafah. This operation is part of a broader effort led by the 162nd Division, which continues to advance strategically in the southern Gaza Strip. Since Sunday, the division has identified and dismantled significant terrorist infrastructure and weapon caches.
In parallel, the Israel Air Force has intensified its campaign, targeting and neutralizing over 50 sites, including terrorist infrastructure, weapon and munition depots, and buildings used by terrorists. This heightened military activity comes amid ongoing threats from Hezbollah, who fired several rockets into northern Israel on Monday morning. Additionally, Israeli forces intercepted a rocket aimed at the southern port of Eilat, launched by Yemen's Houthis, using the advanced Arrow missile defense system.
All eyes on terrorist RPGs being kept in civilian areas of Rafah:
ā Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) June 3, 2024
Over the past day, IDF troops in Rafah uncovered huge quantities of weapons, including RPG missiles found during a targeted raid on a Hamas terror facility.
Hamas has turned all of Rafah into a human shield. pic.twitter.com/QaGZPAT0aA
The military has also initiated operations in the Yabna camp in southern Gaza's Rafah, near the Egyptian border. Troops from the Givati Brigade have successfully neutralized several terror operatives and dismantled military infrastructure, discovering a significant cache of weapons, including anti-aircraft machine guns. The 9th Armored Battalion, operating under the Givati Brigade, identified multiple rocket launching sites along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Israel recently established "operational control" over the Philadelphi Corridor, a critical land border between Gaza and Egypt. This buffer zone, approximately nine miles long and several hundred yards wide, spans Gaza's southern border from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kerem Shalom border crossing, where Gaza's, Egypt's, and Israel's boundaries converge.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, reported the discovery of approximately 20 tunnels crossing from Gaza into Egypt. Hamas has been accused of using these tunnels for smuggling weapons, goods, and people. Hagari described the Philadelphi Corridor as a "central Hamas hotbed of terror."
An animation of the IDF's progress through Rafah using 5-day increments. At the present rate it will take about 30 days to go through the entire city. pic.twitter.com/iHNi1rGyaK
ā Uri Kurlianchik (@VerminusM) June 1, 2024
He detailed, "We uncovered a subterranean tunnel system near the Egyptian border, revealing 13 kilometers of Hamas's underground network and around 20 tunnels built intentionally next to the border with Egypt under Rafah as part of Hamas's human shield strategy." Inside these tunnels, Israeli forces found a variety of weapons, including anti-tank missiles, AK-47s, explosives, and grenades. Efforts are ongoing to dismantle the Rafah brigade.
To date, Israeli forces have eliminated approximately 300 Hamas fighters in Rafah, some of whom were concealed within the tunnel network, according to Hagari.
