IDF and Shin Bet say strikes destroyed four Hamas and Islamic Jihad depots in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency, better known as the Shin Bet, say they destroyed four weapons storage sites in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. In a joint announcement from the IDF spokesperson, the two bodies said the targeted strikes took place in several parts of the territory and that the sites belonged to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

According to the statement, the groups had kept dozens of weapons of different kinds at the facilities. The IDF's post on X listed rockets, explosive devices, mortars and Kalashnikov rifles, as well as other combat equipment. The Times of Israel reported that the joint statement also said civilians were warned in advance and that precision munitions were used, which the military described as a way to "reduce the risk of harm."

Who announced the strikes

The announcement came jointly from two Israeli bodies. The IDF is Israel's military, and its spokesperson's unit issues official statements on operations. The Shin Bet, formally the Israel Security Agency and abbreviated ISA in English-language military statements, is Israel's internal security service. It gathers intelligence on armed groups in the Palestinian territories and often works with the army on operations in Gaza, which is why the two frequently publish shared statements about strikes.

The Hebrew version of the statement, quoted in the Times of Israel report, uses the term Shabak, the Hebrew acronym for the same agency, and refers to Islamic Jihad by its Hebrew abbreviation. Israeli channel N12 also carried the news: correspondent Nitzan Shapira wrote that the IDF and Shin Bet had destroyed four weapons depots belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad across the Strip, with an image credited to the IDF spokesperson.

The groups named

Hamas is the Islamist movement that has governed the Gaza Strip and is the largest armed faction there. Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a smaller armed group also active in Gaza, which has fought alongside Hamas and has its own rocket arsenal. The IDF statement refers to both as terrorist organisations, the designation Israel uses for them.

The Gaza Strip is the coastal Palestinian territory bordering Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the south. The statement says the strikes took place in several areas across the Strip, but it does not identify specific towns or neighbourhoods.

How this fits the wider picture

Announcements of this kind, in which the military reports destroying weapons stores, launch sites or tunnels belonging to armed groups, are a regular feature of Israeli operations in Gaza. The descriptions of what was stored at the sites, and of the precautions taken, come from the Israeli statement itself.

The Times of Israel published the item in its live coverage alongside other entries on the same day, including one on a statement from the Nobel peace committee, which the outlet reported had said it was not for the committee to decide whether the Gaza war constitutes genocide. That item is separate from the strikes and is mentioned here only as part of the surrounding news coverage.

Agreement among the reports

All four reports describe the same basic event: four depots, belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, destroyed in strikes across Gaza by the IDF and Shin Bet. They do not contradict one another. The weapons list matches across the IDF's own channels and the Times of Israel. The Times of Israel and N12 both attribute the information to the joint statement or to the IDF spokesperson rather than to independent reporting of their own.

What the reports do not say

The reports do not identify where in Gaza the four sites were, beyond saying they were in several areas of the Strip. They give no precise count of the weapons, only that there were dozens. None of the material says whether anyone was killed or injured in the strikes, and there is no account from Palestinian sources, Hamas, Islamic Jihad or local residents. The statement says warnings were given to civilians but does not explain how or when. No independent confirmation of the targets or their contents appears in any of the reports, and the material does not describe what intelligence led to the strikes.