Israeli forces have located and destroyed the largest long-range rocket manufacturing site utilized by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, officials told Fox News Digital Monday.

Forces from the Israeli Commando Brigade, including the 401st Brigade and the Yahalom Unit, raided the outpost located in the Tel al-Sultan area west of the city of Rafah, where equipment and materials used for manufacturing projectiles were found.

"During the operation, Commandos and Yahalom special operations forces operated simultaneously above and below ground to eliminate terrorists with drones and precise missiles," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

The IDF estimated that "hundreds" of rockets have been produced at the site over the last few years.

"The destruction of the outpost and the underground production site damages the Islamic Jihad’s ability to produce and fire rockets at Israeli civilians and communities," the IDF statement added.

Intense fighting in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood has continued for weeks between Israeli forces and terrorists from the PIJ and Hamas.

Israel has said it will not stop its offensive in Rafah and in the Gaza Strip in general until Hamas is eradicated, despite calls for a cease-fire from the international community.

One Israeli soldier was killed during fighting in Rafah on Monday, and Palestinian terrorists launched their largest offensive against the Jewish state in seven months after they fired 20 rockets at Israel’s southern borders, the Times of Israel reported.

The rockets were launched from the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza some seven miles north of Rafah.

The projectiles were largely stopped by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system while others fell in southern Israel, though no damage or injuries were reported.

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Palestinian militants fire rockets into Israel, tanks advance in Gaza

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday as fighting raged in Gaza and Israeli tanks advanced deeper in parts of the enclave, residents and officials said.

Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas - both of whom are backed by Iran - said its fighters fired rockets towards several Israeli communities near the fence with Gaza in response to "the crimes of the Zionist enemy against our Palestinian people".

The volley of about 20 rockets caused no casualties, the Israeli military said. But the attack showed militants still possess rocket capabilities almost nine months into an offensive that Israel says is aimed at neutralising threats against it.

Residents of several neighbourhoods in eastern Khan Younis, which is in southern Gaza, said they had received audio messages from Israeli phone numbers ordering them to leave their homes.

"For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the humanitarian zone," army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on social media platform X in a call to residents and displaced people living in those areas.

Some suggested this could mean Israeli forces will return to the area, which they left several weeks ago. The Israeli military said in a statement earlier on Monday the rockets were fired from the Khan Younis area.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was nearing its goal of taking out the military capabilities of Hamas, the Islamist group that governs Gaza and led the Oct. 7 assault on Israel that sparked the war. Less intense operations would continue, he said.

"We are advancing to the end of the phase of eliminating the terrorist army of Hamas, and there will be a continuation to strike its remnants," Netanyahu said.

Violence also flared on Monday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian health ministry said a woman and a boy were killed in the city of Tulkarm during an operation by Israeli forces. A day earlier, an Israeli strike in the same area killed an Islamic Jihad member.

In some parts of Gaza, militants continue to stage attacks on Israeli forces in areas that the army had left months ago.

Israeli tanks deepened incursions into the Shejaia suburb of eastern Gaza City for a fifth day, and tanks advanced further in western and central Rafah, in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt, residents said.

The Israeli military said it had killed a number of militants in combat in Shejaia on Monday and found large amounts of weapons there.

Hamas said its fighters had lured an Israeli force into a booby-trapped house in the east of Rafah and blown it up, causing casualties.

The Israeli military announced the death of a soldier in southern Gaza without providing details. Israel's Army Radio said the soldier was killed in Rafah in a booby-trapped house - a possible reference to the incident reported by Islamic Jihad.

Also in Rafah, the Israeli military said that an airstrike killed a militant who fired an anti-tank missile at its troops.

Israel has signalled that its operation in Rafah, meant to stamp out Hamas, will soon be concluded. After the intense phase of the war is over, its forces will focus on smaller scale operations meant to stop Hamas reassembling, officials say.

The war began when Hamas-led fighters burst into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages, including civilians and soldiers, back into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

The offensive launched by Israel in retaliation has killed nearly 38,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.

The Gaza health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but officials say most of the dead are civilians. Israel says 317 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza and that at least a third of the Palestinian dead are fighters.

CEASEFIRE EFFORTS STALLED

Arab mediators' efforts to secure a ceasefire, backed by the United States, have stalled. Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas is eradicated.

Israeli authorities released 54 Palestinians it had detained during the war, Palestinian border officials said.

Among them was Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, the director of Al Shifa Hospital, arrested by the military when its forces first stormed the medical facility in November.

Israel said Hamas had been using the hospital for military purposes. The military has released the hospital's CCTV footage from Oct. 7 showing gunmen and hostages on the premises and has taken journalists into a tunnel found at the complex.

Hamas has denied using hospitals for military purposes. Abu Selmeyah rejected the allegations on Monday and said detainees had been abused during their detention, including being deprived of food and medicine, and that some had died.

"I was subjected to severe torture, my little finger was broken, and I was beaten in the head until blood came out, more than once," Abu Selmeyah told a press conference at a hospital in southern Gaza.

Israel in May said it was investigating the deaths of Palestinians captured during the war as well as a military-run detention camp where released detainees and rights groups have alleged abuse of inmates.

The military did not immediately comment on Abu Selmeyah's remarks.

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Israel responds with artillery after 20 rockets fired from Gaza Strip

Rockets can be seen in the sky flying towards Israel. Around 20 rockets have been fired at Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, with Israeli artillery responding, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Around 20 rockets have been fired at Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, with Israeli artillery responding, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on Monday.

Some of the rockets had been intercepted, while others had come down in open countryside, it said. Air-raid sirens sounded in locations near the border ordering residents to seek shelter. The IDF said it had fired on the launch sites with artillery.

The attacks were the heaviest for some time, Israeli media reported.

Since entering the Gaza Strip following the October 7 attacks mounted by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement and other organizations, the IDF has destroyed buildings, launch ramps and tunnels.

Thousands of rockets were fired in the initial months at Israeli targets as far away as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The attacks have since declined in frequency.

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Israel warns Palestinians to evacuate ahead of strikes in Khan Younis

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, negotiations have stalled to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, and Israeli forces continue to launch incursions in the southern Gazan town of Rafah ahead of a possible large-scale invasion.

IDF orders evacuation of area in Khan Younis amid response to rocket attack

The Israel Defense Forces ordered hundreds of people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza to evacuate amid its response to a rocket attack, the military said.

The area for evacuation is near the European Hospital, according to a leaflet distributed in the region Monday.

"For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the humanitarian zone," the leaflet stated.

The IDF said the evacuation is in response to an earlier rocket attack that came from the area involving approximately 20 projectiles.

"A number of the projectiles were intercepted and some of the projectiles fell inside southern Israel. No injuries were reported," the IDF said in a statement. "IDF Artillery is currently striking the sources of the fire."

-ABC News' Sami Zyara and Matt Gutman

Jun 29, 3:44 PM

Hostage speaks 1st time since release

Noa Argamani, one of four hostages rescued during a deadly IDF raid on June 8, released a video thanking Israeli forces for rescuing her and calls for the release of the remaining hostages, including her boyfriend, in her first public remarks since she was released.

They were separated during the kidnapping, according to Argamani.

"I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that there are still 120 hostages in Hamas captivity. Among them is Avinatan Or, my partner, from whom I was separated at the moment of abduction. Although I'm home now, we can't forget about the hostages who are still in Hamas captivity, and we must do everything possible to bring them back home," Argamani said.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaule

Jun 28, 3:50 PM

Military pier in Gaza to be taken offline again: US official

The U.S. military pier in Gaza will be taken offline again on Friday and moved to the Israeli port of Ashdod due to high seas, according to a U.S. official.

This is a precautionary move to protect the pier from breaking due to rough waves, the official said.

This is the third time the pier has had to be moved to Ashdod because of weather. The pier has been operational only about half of the time since it opened in mid-May.

“I don't have a date of when the pier would be reinstalled,” Defense Department deputy spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters Friday, noting that Centcom will assess the sea conditions over the weekend.

As the pier was moved away Friday, two U.S. officials told ABC News that officials are considering not re-installing the pier until the humanitarian aid that it brought to Gaza gets distributed. More than 19 million pounds of aid has been delivered to Gaza via the pier but it’s now piling up at the staging point at the edge of the pier, Singh said.

Inspectors General at the Pentagon and the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Thursday that they’re launching reviews of the mission to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza via the military's temporary pier system.

-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty and Luis Martinez

Jun 28, 11:31 AM

Israel, US discussing transfer of Patriot air defense batteries to Ukraine

Israel and the U.S. are discussing the transfer of Patriot air defense batteries to Ukraine, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.

This agreement -- not yet finalized, according to the source -- would mark a shift in Israel’s public policy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A key factor behind Israel’s willingness to discuss the transfer of Patriot air defense batteries is the tightening military alliance between Russia and Iran.

In April, Israel announced the decommissioning of U.S.-donated Patriot systems from its aerial defense array. Security sources previously said Patriot has been successfully replaced by the Israeli-made David's Sling air and missile defense system.

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