Tel Aviv, April 22 -- Israeli airstrikes overnight destroyed around 40 engineering vehicles used by Hamas for terror purposes, including during the October 7 attack, the Israel Defence Forces said on Tuesday.

"The Hamas terrorist organization used these vehicles to plant explosives, dig underground shelters, breach fences, and clear rubble to locate weapons and military equipment underneath," the IDF said. "The engineering vehicles that were attacked constitute a central component of Hamas' ability to carry out terrorist plots against IDF forces and the State of Israel."

Many of these tools, the military said, were directly linked to the attack on southern Israel on October 7.

According to the army, Hamas' engineering unit used heavy e...