IAF launches mass airstrikes in Gaza City, hitting 70 Hamas targets; troops take out 4 gunmen near Gaza-area community, Erez Crossing

The death toll from Palestinian terror group Hamas’s shock attack on Israel on Saturday has surpassed 1,000, with close to 3,000 injured and the fate of an estimated 150 people abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip still unclear.

According to Hebrew media reports, the death toll hit a grim 1,000 late Tuesday as security forces and Zaka, a volunteer group that handles human remains after terror attacks and other disasters, worked in southern Israeli communities to clear and collect bodies.

The Health Ministry said earlier that 2,901 had been injured in the assault, with over 500 still hospitalized, including 26 critically and 340 seriously.

The death toll from Palestinian terror group Hamas’s shock attack on Israel on Saturday has surpassed 1,000, with close to 3,000 injured and the fate of an estimated 150 people abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip still unclear.

According to Hebrew media reports, the death toll hit a grim 1,000 late Tuesday as security forces and Zaka, a volunteer group that handles human remains after terror attacks and other disasters, worked in southern Israeli communities to clear and collect bodies.

The Health Ministry said earlier that 2,901 had been injured in the assault, with over 500 still hospitalized, including 26 critically and 340 seriously.

Funeral after funeral was held across Israel on Tuesday for soldiers and civilians alike as Israel reels from the mass infiltration on Saturday.

Security forces were also still battling terrorists in southern Israel on Tuesday, with two killed in an agricultural field near the southern community of Kfar Maimon and another two gunmen killed near the Erez Crossing into the Gaza Strip late Tuesday, according to Hebrew media reports.

Walla reported that troops spotted a suspicious vehicle trying to reach the crossing from Israel and opened fire, killing the two occupants.

Earlier, troops killed three Palestinian terrorists near the southern coastal city of Ashkelon. The military said troops of the 17th Battalion, along with a drone and a combat helicopter providing air support, clashed with the three gunmen close to the Ashkelon industrial zone, just outside the city.

The military says a fire broke out in the area during the incident.

Overnight Tuesday, the Israeli military said air force jets hit over 70 Hamas targets in the Gaza City district of At-Tuffah as well as a military structure operated by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The military said the area served as a “terrorist nest” for Hamas and a center from which it carried out operations against Israel. A structure used by Palestinian Islamic Jihad was also targeted, the military said.

Sirens sounded in the southern community of Netiv Ha’asara near the Gaza Strip shortly after.

Earlier, the IDF said it struck home of Hamas’s military wing spokesman, who is known as Abu Obeida, in the Gaza Strip. The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that the spokesman was “working to direct terrorism against the State of Israel.”

The IDF also carried out strikes in Syria and Lebanon earlier Tuesday after a number of mortars were launched toward northern Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said 15 rockets were fired from Lebanon at the Western Galilee, setting off sirens in several towns. Four projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, while the rest landed in open areas, causing no damage or injuries, the IDF said.

The military initially said in a statement that it had launched artillery strikes in response to the rocket attack, and in a later statement, said tanks had shelled two posts belonging to the Hezbollah terror group.

Hamas later claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, and Hezbollah said it had carried out the ATGM attack.

Later Tuesday, a number of mortars were fired from Syria at the Golan Heights. The IDF said several of the projectiles crossed into Israeli territory and landed in open areas, causing no damage.

The IDF said it carried out artillery strikes in Syria in response, targeting the origin of the mortar fire.

Israel has vowed to ensure Hamas would never be able to repeat its devastating weekend mass attack, in which hundreds of Israeli civilians were massacred.

Aid organizations pleaded for the creation of humanitarian corridors to get aid into Gaza, warning that hospitals overwhelmed with wounded were running out of supplies. Israel has stopped all access of food, fuel and medicines into Gaza, as it seeks to destroy Hamas’s entire military capabilities, and the sole remaining access from Egypt shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit near the border crossing.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says 700 people in the Palestinian enclave have been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes. Israel says it is targeting terrorist infrastructure and all areas where Hamas operates or hides out. The Times of Israel