IDF says it killed 'around 20 terrorists' and destroyed large tunnel

Israeli sniper, tank and drone fire killed "around 20 terrorists" in the past 24 hours in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday, as they also announced the destruction of the largest Hamas tunnel ever discovered there.

More than 50 targets of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement were also hit, including launching pads, weapons depots, tunnels and other military infrastructure, the IDF said.

The tunnel with several branches, which was found in the north of the coastal area in mid-December, had been examined and dismantled in recent weeks, the IDF said.

The IDF said vehicles were able to pass through the tunnel, which extended for more than 4 kilometres and had a depth of 50 metres.

The tunnel system is located 400 metres from the Erez border crossing between Israel and Gaza but did not extend into Israeli territory, the IDF said.

It was reportedly built by Mohammed al-Sinwar, the brother of Yehya al-Sinwar, who leads Hamas in Gaza. According to Israeli media reports, it led to Jabalia, the refugee neighbourhood in northern Gaza which is considered a Hamas stronghold.

In the IDF's ground operations on Tuesday in the western part of Khan Younis, which have been ongoing for weeks, "the troops apprehended dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who hid among the civilian population and attempted to flee the area," the IDF wrote on its Telegram channel.

The claims could not be independently verified.

Also on Tuesday, Jordan said it carried out its largest airdrop of food and relief aid supplies on the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with the United States, France and Egypt.

Three Jordanian armed forces aircraft took part in the operation, along with three US aircraft, one Egyptian and one French.

The packages attached to parachutes included aid provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) and were targeted at northern Gaza, the Jordanian armed forces said.

Jordan has been dropping food and supplies into Gaza by air since November. Recently, other countries began joining those operations.

On Tuesday in Geneva, the United Nations said it is considering supplying the Gaza Strip with food from the air, according to Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Airdrops are not the most efficient way to get food to starving people, but lorry deliveries are hampered because Israel is not issuing enough permits, the UN has said.

In the first three days of March there were between 100 and 130 lorries entering daily, compared to more than 500 before the war started after Hamas and other militants attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people on October 7.

In Israel, President Isaac Herzog praised a UN report showing that members of Hamas had committed sexualized violence against Israelis during its October 7 massacre and called on the world to "condemn and punish Hamas."

Five months after the Hamas attacks that started the war in Gaza, the UN's paper, published on Monday, said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that rapes and gang rapes had taken place in at least three locations during the attacks.

There is also convincing information that sexualized violence was also committed against hostages and that this could be ongoing in Gaza. The report does not have a mandate to name culprits.

The paper also states there is evidence of sexualized violence against Palestinians in Israeli captivity.

The report is of "immense importance," Herzog wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"It substantiates with moral clarity and integrity the systematic, premeditated, and ongoing sexual crimes committed by Hamas terrorists against Israeli women."

"The world must react strongly by condemning and punishing Hamas," Herzog wrote.

Hamas, in posts on its WhatsApp group and Telegram channel, rejected the UN's report saying the "allegations clearly contradict what emerged from the testimonies of Israeli women about the good treatment of them by resistance fighters, as well as the testimonies of released Israeli female prisoners, and what they confirmed of the good treatment they received during their captivity in Gaza."

Hamas' statement contradicted what Israeli women have told investigators and the Israeli public about their experiences.

Israel had long accused the UN of failing to respond appropriately to the atrocious crimes of October 7. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced on Monday evening that the Israeli ambassador to the UN would be summoned home for consultations.

Among the many criticisms Israel has against the UN, Katz is annoyed that the UN Security Council does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.