Israeli soldiers of an artillery unit gather near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, on its Israeli side May 14, 2021. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

i24 News – The Israeli military targeted Gaza’s terrorist tunnel network Thursday night with a massive bombardment that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said was the first combined use of air and ground forces since the fighting between Gaza terrorists and Israel began.

There was some confusion as to whether Israel had authorized a ground invasion of the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave but it turns out that the ground support was from outside of Gaza’s border.

The 40-minute campaign, which started around midnight, saw more than 160 fighter jets, alongside infantry, artillery and armored forces, attacking about 150 targets in the northern Gaza Strip.

Some 450 missiles in total were dropped onto Gaza’s terrorist tunnel network, dealing a heavy blow to Hamas’s underground infrastructure dubbed “the Hamas Metro.”

On Friday morning, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry revised the death toll in the Strip since fighting began to 115 with 600 wounded. Israel says that most of the fatalities involve Hamas members targeted by the IDF and rocket misfires by Hamas that kill Gaza civilians.

Gaza terrorists continued launching rockets into Ashkelon, Ashdod, and other southern Israel communities Friday morning.

A woman in her 50s succumbed to her injuries after hitting her head while running to a bomb shelter during a rocket attack from Gaza, bringing the Israeli death toll to nine since the rocket attacks began.