IDF forces take Palestinian prisoners in Gaza (0404 news)

150 Hamas fighters captured by IDF soldiers overnight in Gaza are currently undergoing interrogation by Israel’s Shin Bet security service, Israeli news website 0404 reported.

The Israeli army said Thursday that 70 of the Palestinian gunmen laid down their arms and surrendered to Givati “‹”‹Brigade forces.

Armored and Golani Brigade units killed about 20 terrorists in a number of areas across Gaza overnight, according to the site.

In another clash, Engineering Corps forces identified several suspects exiting a hidden tunnel shaft on Thursday, and the Israeli Air Force attacked the suspects, according to the report.

“The IDF has struck a deep and significant blow at the infrastructures of terrorism – at the terrorists themselves, at rockets, at command centers, at production facilities and at many other targets,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in comment at the outset of a cabinet session Thursday evening.

The IDF was working “at full strength, in the air and on the ground,” according to a statement from his office.

“In the ground campaign, the emphasis is on dealing with the tunnels. While there are no guarantees of 100% success, IDF soldiers are making important successes in locating and neutralizing the terrorist tunnels,” the PM said.

Much of the current heavy fighting is taking place in Khan Younis and Rafah, at the southern end of the coastal enclave.

While there were no reports of Israeli casualties on Thursday, at least 32 Israeli soldiers and officers have been killed in the two weeks since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, which Israel says is aimed at quelling rocket fire and ending tunneling into Israeli territory adjacent to Gaza.