JERUSALEM, Nov 1 — The Israeli army said today that its forces had carried out attacks on more than 11,000 militant targets in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of its ongoing war with Hamas.

"Since the beginning of the war, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has struck over 11,000 targets belonging to terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip,” a statement from the military said.

Gaza has in recent days seen fierce battles between Israeli ground troops and militants as Israel has pressed its mission to "crush” Hamas after it went on a rampage on October 7 killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including women, children and the elderly.

Since then, Israel has hit back with an unstinting aerial bombardment, which the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza says has now killed more than 8,500 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children.

Israelis also face a daily barrage of aerial attacks from Hamas and other Iran-backed groups around the Middle East.

Yemen’s Huthi rebels said they had "launched a large batch of ballistic missiles... and a large number of armed aircraft” towards Israel yesterday.

Israel’s military said a "hostile aircraft intrusion” had set off warning sirens in Eilat, and a surface-to-surface missile was "successfully intercepted”.

In the north, Israel has traded near-daily fire with Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. — AFP