Israeli forces claim they have regained control in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed on Monday to have regained control of all communities of the Gaza Strip, though some Hamas militants remain active.

Addressing reporters, IDF spokesman rear admiral Daniel Hagari said there was currently no fighting going on between Israeli forces and Hamas inside Israeli territory, CNN reported. But he also acknowledged that isolated clashes are ongoing with active Palestinian shooters.

Meanwhile, sirens warning of incoming rockets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv rang out at noon on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the IDF had said fighting was raging in seven to eight sites in southern Israel close to the Gaza Strip. These sites include Be’eri, an agrarian community, which was infiltrated by Hamas fighters overnight. 

The Israeli military added that it has attacked more than 1,000 targets in Gaza since Hamas launched the unprecedented attacks on 7 October, firing thousands of rockets and sending fighters across the border in an incursion the likes of which the Jewish nation has not seen since its 1948 war of independence.

As airstrikes continued on the Gaza Strip on Monday, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) claimed that more than 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the coastal enclave were hit overnight, the BBC reported.

The IAF said that fighter jets, helicopters, aircraft and artillery struck the targets, adding that seven Hamas command centres and an Islamic Jihad command centre were hit.