Israel-Gaza updates: IDF says 3,500 'terror targets' hammered in 10 days

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that it is expanding its ground offensive to the entire Gaza Strip amid its ongoing war against Hamas.

"We have entered a new phase in our war against Hamas," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a video statement. "We pursued them in northern Gaza. We're now pursuing Hamas in southern Gaza, too."

"As we expand our operation in Gaza, we remain committed to our goals: secure the release of our hostages and dismantle Hamas," he continued. "We will operate in maximum force against Hamas terrorists and infrastructures while minimizing harm to the civilians that Hamas places around them as shields."

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza, which is home to 2.3 million people, has denied Israel's claims that it deliberately shelters behind civilians by hiding its fighters, infrastructure and weapons in hospitals, schools and other areas populated by civilians.

Hagari said the IDF used the seven-day pause in hostilities with Hamas last week "to increase readiness, review intelligence and refine operational procedures."

"We are implementing lessons learned for the new phase of this war, improving the efficiency and precision of our operations on the ground," he added. "We are pursuing Hamas wherever Hamas is hiding, in the north and in the south. Every rocket launcher, weapons depot, command and control center, senior commander, underground infrastructure and any hideout where our hostages may be held."

Hagari maintained the Israel's "war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza" and that "every civilian death is a tragedy -- a tragedy that the IDF does not want and is taking extensive measures to avoid." More than 15,500 people have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to figures released by Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health and the Hamas government media office.

The IDF is "dropping leaflets with QR codes that opens a map guiding Gazans to safer areas," according to Hagari. However, the Israeli bombardment has disrupted telecommunications in Gaza and a majority of the population does not have access to internet or phone service.

"The map is divided into neighborhood numbers indicating where civilians in a specific area should go to avoid being in the crossfire," he said. "We call on international organizations in Gaza to assist us with this effort. It can help save lives."

-ABC News' Morgan Winsor

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday morning that its aircraft bombed "approximately 200 Hamas terror targets" in the Gaza Strip overnight as troops continued operations on the ground.

Israeli ground troops struck "terror infrastructure" that was located inside a school in Gaza’s northeastern city of Beit Hanoun, while Israeli fighter jets struck "military infrastructure" as well as "vehicles containing missiles, mortar shells, and weapons," according to the IDF.

Israeli ground troops also directed an aircraft to bomb a "cell of terrorists" and a "weapons storage facility from which the terrorists exited," the IDF said.

Meanwhile, Israeli warships struck "a number of Hamas terror targets" overnight, including "observation posts belonging to the Hamas naval forces and terrorist infrastructure at the Gaza harbor" as well as "Hamas military compounds," according to the IDF.

-ABC News' Morgan Winsor

Over 600 foreign passport holders -- nearly half of whom are Americans and Canadians -- were on a list of people approved to leave Gaza on Sunday. Some 566 foreign passport holders, whose nationalities were not released, later exited the Gaza Strip through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing on Sunday, crossing spokesman Wael Abu Omar told ABC News.

Thirteen wounded Gaza residents and 11 of their family members also left Gaza and entered Egypt on Sunday, the spokesman said.

-ABC News' Ayat Al-Tawy

The Israel Defense Forces has started a ground operation in southern Gaza that "will be no less powerful than" the operations in northern Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said.

"We have the capabilities to do it in the most thorough way, and just as we did it with strength and thoroughly in the north of the Gaza Strip, we are also doing it now in the south of the Gaza Strip, and we also continue to deepen the achievements in the north of the Gaza Strip," Halevi said.

The IDF said it's carried out 10,000 airstrikes in the Gaza Strip since fighting began.

"The forces ‘closed circles’ and thwarted terror cells, terror infrastructure, operational apartments, tunnel shafts, weapons warehouses and more,” the IDF said in a statement.

-ABC News' Dana Savir