The IDF says troops of its elite Commando Brigade are establishing operational

The IDF says troops of its elite Commando Brigade are establishing operational control in "the heart of" Khan Younis, amid a major offensive against Hamas in the city in the southern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the IDF says the brigade is "continuing the offensive in the Khan Younis area, and is deepening the operational control of the Hamas terrorists' stronghold."

The IDF says that as troops have advanced in the area, the commandos have encountered many Hamas cells, which were "eliminated with sniper fire, guided missiles, and tank shelling."

In one incident, troops of the brigade's Egoz unit spotted three Hamas gunmen and targeted them with an Iron Sting guided mortar, the IDF says.

It adds that in another incident, Egoz soldiers killed four Hamas gunmen in close-quarters combat as the commandos raided a building.

In what the IDF describes as a special operation carried out by Egoz snipers over the course of a number of hours, several Hamas operatives were killed after being tricked into coming out of tunnels in the Khan Younis area, according to the army.

The Commando Brigade's Maglan unit, meanwhile, raided a command center belonging to the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's intelligence unit and a Hamas command center in Khan Younis, the IDF says.

In the command centers, the IDF says the troops seized weapons and military equipment, as well as maps and other "valuable" intelligence information.

Maglan commandos also killed "many terrorists during intensive battles" in the Khan Younis area, the IDF adds.