IDF finds evidence of Iran training Hamas in precision rockets

The IDF announced on Sunday that its intelligence apparatus has obtained evidence of Iranian involvement in training Hamas to manufacture and fire precision rockets and other strategic weapons.

There was a direct connection between the timing of the announcement and the IDF's penetration and taking over of a large strategic tunnel in the Daraj Tuffah area of northern Gaza in recent days.

As part of the operation, the IDF brought in experts to analyze the long-range and precision rockets and other items it found there.

The IDF declined to specify exactly what signs there were of Iranian training and guidance in the manufacturing the firing of the weapons, but in the past some weapons have had Iranian signs or Persian words on them.

In other instances, there have been guidebooks or messages recovered from electronic devices with connections to the Islamic Republic.

Though Hamas is an independent entity, Israeli intelligence has said for years that the terror group could not have pulled off the October 7 surprise attack or reached the level of its current fighting prowess without general funding, logistics support, and training from Tehran.

However, such statements are often made in a general manner, and Sunday's findings were more direct evidence than usual of the ayatollahs' involvement.

These various weapons systems were found only after traversing 100 meters of tunnel space in an area which itself had been identified by Israeli intelligence as requiring deeper investigation.

Those Hamas forces guarding the area also put up a more significant fight, including face to face clashes, than the terror group is often putting up in other areas, where its tactics tend to be sudden hit and runs popping out of tunnel shafts and fleeing back to those shafts.    

Drones and helicopters were critical to assisting IDF Nahal land forces during the battle.

Hamas's last stronghold in northern Gaza falls

Daraj Tuffah was viewed by the IDF as the last stronghold of Hamas in northern Gaza after the fall of Jablia on December 19 and the fall of most of Gaza City in mid-November.

Nahal Commander Col. Yair Zuckerman said, "We are in Daraj Tuffah along with our integrated battle teams. In recent days, we encountered the enemy, many cells, [terror] infrastructure and boobytraps...we found defensive tunnels and rocket firing platforms, from right here," signaling where he was standing.

Zuckerman was appointed to lead Nahal forces on October 7 after its pre-war commander, Col. Yonatan Steinberg was killed on his way to try to rescue Israelis in the South under invasion by Hamas. 

The invasion of Daraj Tuffah was broken down roughly into two stages over around two weeks of fighting. 

In the first 4-7 days, the fighting was the heaviest with much more organized attacks by Hamas forces.

During the second stage, Hamas terrorists' still mounted a significant challenge, but started fighting more using hit and run tactics from underground areas.

Palestinian media reported that a son of the head of Al Jazeera in Gaza was killed by the IDF along with a photographer. The IDF had not responded at press time, but to date has said that when it killed journalists, there was either a targeting error or that the journalists were working with Hamas.

Hamas’s affiliated Gaza reports claimed that the number of Palestinians killed by the IDF was closing in on 23,000. The numbers do not make distinctions between civilians and fighters.

Rockets from Hamas in Gaza against Israel’s South continued on Sunday, but in very low quantities as in recent days.

In the North, around15 rockets were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel on Sunday, withsome landing near the"Astra" army post on Mount Hermon and at least one direct hit in Metulla, though it did not cause any injuries. IDF air defenses did not shoot down the rockets since there were no civilians nearby. The IDF has returned fire to the sources of the rockets in Lebanon. 

Hezbollah had escalated on Saturday firing barrages of rockets at a sensitive installation near Mt, Hermon, setting off 90 rocket sirens.

The terror groups' escalation was seen as a response to about a month of IDF escalatory attacks to push Hezbollah away from the border as well as the alleged Israeli killing of Hams Deputy Chief Saleh al-Arouri, while he was a guest of Hezbollah in Beirut.