The Israeli army has expanded its ground operation in the Gaza Strip, it announced late on Saturday.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops were involved in “complex battles in densely populated areas” and that they were advancing into further strongholds of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas.

So far, Israeli ground forces had destroyed or confiscated around 30,000 explosive devices, including anti-tank missiles and rockets in the possession of Hamas, the spokesman said.

The Israeli military had announced earlier that it had killed a high-ranking Hamas official who was responsible for the militant group’s weapons supply.

The soldiers were continuing to fight in densely populated areas such as Khan Younis and were tracking down “terrorist infrastructure”, particularly in underground tunnels, the army spokesman said. Technical forces had therefore been significantly reinforced.

The capacities of the division fighting there would be further expanded in the coming days, he said, noting that the destruction of the tunnels was time-consuming.

A network of tunnels stretches for many kilometres underneath the Gaza Strip, in which, according to Israel, Hamas members are hiding and holding hostages abducted from Israel. In order to withstand Israeli aerial bombings, some tunnels extend dozens of metres underground.

Hamas also uses the tunnels to emerge above ground and attack from behind. Many of the tunnels are booby-trapped to kill Israeli soldiers who enter them.

The war began after Hamas fighters and other militant groups committed the worst massacre in Israeli history on October 7 in border communities close to Gaza, killing more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting some 240 more into the coastal area.

Israel responded by pounding Gaza with airstrikes and launched a ground offensive into the densely populated sealed off strip in late October. More than 20,000 people are said to have been killed there so far.

During a temporary pause in fighting, 105 hostages were freed in exchange for some 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Israel estimates that 129 hostages are still in Gaza.

In view of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the sealed-off Gaza Strip, Israel has come under increasing international pressure in recent weeks.