Israel at war. The Combat Team of Division 5 transitions from defense to offense, engaging for the first time in the Gaza Strip. The team seized control of the Kasbah compound in Beit Hanoun last week. The combat team, with the support of air assistance, intelligence, and engineering forces, cleared the Kasbah area, eliminated terrorists, and attacked dozens of terror targets and infrastructure using firepower.
Among other things, the forces gathered numerous combat means, including Kalashnikov rifles, grenades, ammunition boxes, mortar shells, and vests, including IDF vests. Additionally, the forces identified uniforms of the Hamas terror organization, including children's uniforms, documents, and phones belonging to Hamas and IDF combat gear. The forces located several tunnel exits, with the largest one found in a school that terrorists attacked the day before the divisional operation.
The fighters of the 5th Brigade's combat team completed the task of protecting the settlements and kibbutzim in the center of the Gaza Strip, in which the brigade was a partner in the effort to cleanse the area of terrorists starting from the first days of fighting, carrying out several cross-fence raid operations to uncover terrorist shafts and infrastructure and destroy them, an effort to locate spaces, securing works on the fence and repair of means of observation, security of farmers in the Otef and support in the home front.
