Israel destroys Islamic Jihad’s largest rocket production site in Gaza

Israeli forces have located and destroyed the largest long-range rocket manufacturing site utilized by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, officials told Fox News Digital Monday.

Forces from the Israeli Commando Brigade, including the 401st Brigade and the Yahalom Unit, raided the outpost located in the Tel al-Sultan area west of the city of Rafah, where equipment and materials used for manufacturing projectiles were found. 

"During the operation, Commandos and Yahalom special operations forces operated simultaneously above and below ground to eliminate terrorists with drones and precise missiles," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

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The IDF estimated that "hundreds" of rockets have been produced at the site over the last few years.

"The destruction of the outpost and the underground production site damages the Islamic Jihad’s ability to produce and fire rockets at Israeli civilians and communities," the IDF statement added. 

Intense fighting in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood has continued for weeks between Israeli forces and terrorists from the PIJ and Hamas. 

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Israel has said it will not stop its offensive in Rafah and in the Gaza Strip in general until Hamas is eradicated, despite calls for a cease-fire from the international community.

One Israeli soldier was killed during fighting in Rafah on Monday, and Palestinian terrorists launched their largest offensive against the Jewish state in seven months after they fired 20 rockets at Israel’s southern borders, the Times of Israel reported.

The rockets were launched from the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza some seven miles north of Rafah. 

The projectiles were largely stopped by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system while others fell in southern Israel, though no damage or injuries were reported.