Israel hits 300 Hamas targets in Gaza, engages in battles against terrorists firing anti-tank missiles, guns

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IDF strike killing a Hamas commander

Israeli forces say they killed a Hamas commander, Nasim Abu Ajina, who they say directed the Oct. 7 attack. (via IDF)

Israel’s military announced Tuesday that another 300 Hamas targets have been attacked in the Gaza Strip over the last day as troops on the ground "conducted several battles with terrorist squads that fired anti-tank missiles or machine guns at the forces." 

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the ongoing military activity in northern Gaza focuses on "the center of gravity of Hamas." 

"We are hunting their commanders. We are attacking their infrastructure and whenever there is any potent target that is related to Hamas, we strike it," he said. "Now we do so with professionalism. Hamas is the enemy, not the civilian population." 

The Israeli air force said in a post Tuesday that the IDF has "attacked about 300 targets during the last day, among them the shafts of anti-tank and rocket launching positions, tunnel shafts and military compounds of the terrorist organization Hamas." 

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A long exposure photo shows destroyed buildings with fire and smoke rise following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on Monday. (AP/Abed Khaled)

"During the activities of the ground forces, the forces conducted several battles with terrorist squads that fired anti-tank missiles or machine guns at the forces," it continued. "The forces eliminated terrorists and directed air forces in order to destroy terrorist targets and infrastructure in real time." 

"Fighter jets of the Air Force attacked a short time ago the infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in the territory of Lebanon," it also said, noting that "weapons, positions and sites used by the organization were destroyed." 

Conricus said Tuesday that so far "Hezbollah has quite a lot of casualties" and "unfortunately we have casualties as well." 

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Israeli army medical move near the border with Lebanon on Tuesday, Oct. 31 amid increasing cross-border tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. (Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)

"But at the end of the day, what is important here is for the state of Lebanon to understand that they stand to lose almost everything and gain absolutely nothing by allowing Hezbollah to drag them into a war," he added. "And if anybody cares about the state of Lebanon, they should be out of this war because they will gain nothing from helping a bunch of terrorists in Gaza."  

"We continue to be deployed, strong and vigilant along our borders," Conricus concluded. 

As of Tuesday, as many as 9,400 people have been killed in the war on both sides, including at least 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers and 33 Americans. 

The Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli Security Agency issued a statement overnight saying troops killed Nasim Abu Ajina, the Hamas commander who they say directed the part of the Oct. 7 massacre in Kibbutz Erez and Moshav Netiv HaAsara.

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The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 110 in the West Bank.  

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.