Troops from the 188th Armored Brigade have recently completed an operation to expand the security zone facing the communities of the Western Negev.
The troops operated to locate and dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area of Khirbat Ikhzaa, which served as a central stronghold of the Hamas terrorist organization.
Hundreds of Hamas terrorists emerged from this area and infiltrated into communities in the south of the Western Negev during the brutal massacre of October 7th.
During combat engineering operations and through Israeli Air Force strikes, dozens of terrorists were eliminated and over 1,200 terrorist infrastructure sites — both above and below ground — were dismantled, in order to remove threats to the communities near the border.
As part of the operation, troops from the 188th Armored Brigade and the Yahalom Unit located and dismantled an underground tunnel route, spanning 500 meters long and 25 meters deep.