The Israeli military said on Monday it had destroyed Hamas rocket launch posts in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), several strikes over the last few days ultimately wiped out the sites being used by Hamas.

The IDF also said Hamas had embedded the sites in humanitarian areas in the west of the city and had used them to fire rockets into Israel over the course of the six-month war.

The news comes after the IDF announced on Sunday it had withdrawn its forces from the Palestinian city, wrapping up a key phase in its ground offensive against the Hamas militant group.

But Israeli defense officials said troops were merely regrouping as the military prepares to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, a Gaza border town that has seen its numbers swell to over a million as people flee Israeli operations that have left much of the rest of the enclave in ruins.