High rises in the “Officers’ Neighborhood” of Beit Hanoun overlooked the nearby Israeli city of Sderot. The neighborhood contained rocket launching sites, anti-tank firing positions, booby traps, shafts and numerous explosives, the IDF said.

Israel has been fighting Hamas efforts to regroup in northern Gaza.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.