The IDF is further expanding its operations in the central Gaza Strip, with the 36th

The IDF is further expanding its operations in the central Gaza Strip, with the 36th Division moving away from the Gaza City area and striking Hamas’s al-Bureij battalion.

The al-Bureij battalion consists of around 1,000 fighters and is just one of four Hamas battalions in the terror group’s central camps brigade.

The four Hamas battalions in central Gaza — al-Bureij, Deir al-Balah, Maghazi, and Nuseirat — have all sustained some damage in Israeli strikes, but are believed to be largely functioning. The commander of the central camps brigade, Ayman Nofel, was killed in an Israeli strike last month.

During the first hours of ground operations in al-Bureij, the IDF says troops of the Bislamach Brigade located a tunnel shaft leading to a large underground Hamas tunnel network, as well as a training ground.

The operations in central Gaza come as the IDF is focusing most of its efforts on the southern part of the Strip, while conducting clear-up operations of Hamas infrastructure in the north.