WATCH: Israeli Tanks Follow Bulldozer Into Gaza, Pound Terrorist Targets

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted footage of an extensive armored military operation that they launched overnight into Gaza.

This from dailywire.com.

The IDF said in a statement:

In preparation for the next stages of combat, the IDF operated in northern Gaza.

The statement continued:

IDF tanks & infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts. The soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory.

Thermal imaging showed roughly a dozen heavily armored vehicles, mostly Merkava tanks, following bulldozers that smashed through Israel’s fence on its border with Gaza that was built to protect Israel from Palestinian terrorists.

WATCH:

The operation comes after Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,400 people in unprecedented terror attacks against Israel three weeks ago.

According to the latest figures from The Jerusalem Post:

More than 5,400 people were wounded and more than 220 hostages remain kidnapped inside Gaza.

Hamas was able to avoid detection for the two years it took to plan the attack by using hardwired landlines inside its vast underground terror tunnels. Meetings also took place in person and only a small number of people in the organization knew the exact plans up until right before the attack was launched.

Professor Joel Roskin a geomorphologist and geologist at Bar-Ilan University’s geography and environment department said:

What is interesting about Hamas is that the rate of growth of the tunnels, not only in size but also in purpose, complemented the development of the organization’s operational concept.

It began with the smuggling of goods, progressed to the smuggling of weapons, and later evolved into attack tunnels.

Final thoughts: To better assure a lasting peace, Hamas must be destroyed and their tunnels also must be destroyed.