Smoke seen billowing over destroyed buildings in northern Gaza from a position in southern Israel, on  Sunday  —AFP

ANI/TPS TEL AVIV

Israeli forces in the northern Gaza area of Beit Hanoun demolished a neighbourhood overlooking Israeli territory. It was  used by Hamas commanders as a hideout and command centre, the Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday.

High rises in the "Officers' Neighborhood" of Beit Hanoun overlook the nearby Israeli city of Sderot. The neighbourhood contained rocket launching sites, anti-tank firing positions, booby traps, shafts and numerous explosives, the IDF said. Israel has been fighting Hamas's efforts to regroup in northern Gaza.

A report on Saturday said the Israeli forces targeted Hamas terrorists exploiting Gaza's Salah ad-Din Highway. The 45-km road runs the length of the Strip from the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to the Erez Crossing in northern Gaza and is a primary route for humanitarian aid deliveries.

According to the IDF, the attack on Hamas took place far from the movement of trucks without affecting the continuity of aid.

Separately, Israeli aircraft targeted a vehicle in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza carrying four armed Hamas terrorists.

The IDF also said on Saturday that soldiers in the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit located and dismantled an underground tunnel route containing a Hamas weapons manufacturing site in central Gaza.

The complex contained several lathes, as well as processing and cutting machines used, among other things, for the production of weapons. Military equipment was also seized.