Day 86: IDF discovers charged explosives in kindergarten in northern Gaza Strip

The IDF announced on Sunday morning that troops from the 14th Reserve Brigade encountered a kindergarten that had been booby-trapped with several IEDs while searching homes that were used for terror activity on the outskirts of al-Shati in northern Gaza. The soldiers neutralized the explosive devices. 

In another incident, IDF troops identified four terrorists with explosive devices approaching their positions. An Israel Air Force (IAF) aircraft was directed to target the cell. 

Approximately half an hour later, four additional terrorists in the area were targeted by IDF troops in a subsequent aerial strike. A vehicle with terrorists was identified approaching soldiers in southern Gaza City around the same time and the vehicle and its passengers were destroyed in an aerial strike. 

During an operation in Beit Lahia, north of Jabaliya, soldiers spotted three terrorists entering a framed building. The troops then directed an IAF aircraft to strike the target, killing the terrorists. 

Operations continue in the southern Gaza Strip as well. IDF troops from the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion (a Bedouin unit) uncovered two tunnel shafts. The operation was conducted in cooperation with armored and engineering forces. The tunnels were destroyed using tanks and D9 bulldozers. 

Soldiers operating in Khan Younis in southern Gaza spotted three terrorists and directed an airstrike that killed one of them. The two remaining terrorists were seen carrying an RPG between buildings and an IDF tank fired toward them. 

IAF fighter jets struck dozens of terror targets, including military compounds, terrorist infrastructure and a tunnel during overnight operations. 

Late on Saturday evening, Palestinian sources reported that Abdel Fattah Maali, a Hamas terrorist on Israel's wanted list for 30 years, had been killed in Gaza. 

Born in the West Bank, Maali was considered the “right-hand man” of Yahya Ayyash, known as the “Engineer.” Ayyash and Maali plotted and carried out a car bombing attack in 1992. 

Ayyash developed bombs used in many suicide attacks and is considered responsible for the deaths of around 90 Israelis, including civilians. Ayyash was assassinated by Shin Bet on Jan. 5, 1996, in Beit Lahia. 

Maali – who fled after a terror attack that killed one IDF soldier and injured four others – returned to Gaza in 2006, and was reportedly a brigade commander for the al-Qassim Brigade. 

According to the IDF, 14 terrorists were eliminated by Israel Defense Forces on Saturday. 

The continued attacks in the northern Gaza Strip have continued for more than two weeks, indicating that the war in Gaza's north is not yet over, despite the IDF shifting most of its focus to the south.