The 2 1/2-mile-long tunnel is large enough to drive a car through, the IDF said.
The temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel ended on Dec. 1, and Israel has resumed its bombardment of Gaza.
The end of the cease-fire came after Hamas freed over 100 of the more than 200 people its militants took hostage during the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel. In exchange, Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
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The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.
The bodies of three hostages -- two Israeli soldiers and one civilian kidnapped from the Supernova music festival -- have been recovered in Gaza and returned to Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The civilian was identified as 28-year-old Ella Toledano and the soldiers were identified as Cpl. Nik Beizer and Sgt. Ron Sherman, the IDF said.
The Israeli Air Force "targeted and destroyed" Hamas military sites, weapons storage facilities and command and control centers along the Gaza-Egypt border, the Israel Defense Forces said.
"The sites that were struck in the Rafah area, where Hamas terrorists were operating, facilitated the smuggling efforts led by the Hamas terrorist organization, including the smuggling of weapons that endanger Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip," the IDF said.
Forty-four people were killed over the last 24 hours from Israeli air strikes in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
The Kerem Shalom crossing at the Israel-Gaza-Egypt border opened for inspections of humanitarian aid on Tuesday, and Israel is now taking the "significant step" to allow the direct delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, said national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Sullivan said he learned of Israel’s decision just before he departed Israel on Friday.
Up to 200 trucks per day will be allowed through the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to the Israeli prime minister's office.
"President [Joe] Biden raised this issue in recent phone calls with [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, and it was an important topic of discussion during my visit to Israel over the past two days," Sullivan said in a statement Friday.
"The United States remains committed to expanding and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza. We will continue to work closely with Egypt and other partners on the delivery and distribution of humanitarian assistance through Rafah crossing, and we hope that this new opening will ease congestion and help facilitate the delivery of life-saving assistance to those who need it urgently in Gaza," Sullivan added.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
