Page 29 - Mick Ryan News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The Israel Defence Forces seek to strike a balance between taking out Hamas’ leaders while keeping hostages alive and maintaining international support.

A sprawling network of Hamas tunnels under the Gaza Strip has become a primary target for the Israeli military in its stated mission to defeat the Palestinian militants, experts say.In 2006, less than a year after Israel unilaterally withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza, Palestinian fighters crept out of a tunnel and abducted an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.

Israel-Hamas War: Israeli jets have hit parts of the massive tunnel network which Hamas has steadily developed and rebuilt for years. | World News

The army said Saturday its forces had struck 150 "underground targets" in a night-time blitz on Gaza that destroyed "terror tunnels" and "underground combat spaces", and killed Hamas fighters. Since Hamas gunmen stormed into southern Israel on October 7, launching raids that Israel says have killed 1,400 people, the military has stepped up urban warfare training at a desert base where a replica Gaza town had been built.

The announcement, though, was part of historic mateship, as the Australian PM said to the US President: “When there’s an Australian with you, they’ll always have your back.”