The IDF’s 252nd Reserve Division has completed its operations against the Hamas

The IDF’s 252nd Reserve Division has completed its operations against the Hamas terror group in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza, and handed over responsibility of the region to the Gaza Division, indicating the military has firm control of that sector.

In a statement, the IDF says troops of the 252nd Division, including infantry, tanks, combat engineers and artillery, defeated Hamas’s Beit Hanoun battalion while capturing all of their main compounds and strongholds.

The IDF says the Beit Hanoun battalion used schools and public buildings as bases, in which troops discovered tunnels and weapons.

The 252nd Division killed “many terrorists” during the operations in Beit Hanoun, and destroyed their weapons depots, rocket launchers, underground command centers, and “significant” tunnels,” the IDF says.

“The underground infrastructure of Hamas in the Beit Hanoun area was significantly damaged, the shafts were dealt with, along with the main tunnel routes,” the statement says.

The division’s Harel Brigade along with special forces uncovered the Beit Hanoun battalion’s main tunnel in the area, which according to the IDF was located deep within the civilian infrastructure, between the Beit Hanoun city hall, a mosque, a soccer court, and a daycare center.

Amid the battles in Beit Hanoun, the IDF says the Harel Brigade spotted two Hamas gunmen exiting a tunnel and joining two more operatives in a car, who began to drive toward the troops. The forces called in an airstrike, killing the four Hamas members, the IDF adds.