Tel Aviv, Dec 17 (IANS): The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that they raided a building near a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) school and found three tunnel shafts in the area.

The IDF, said in a statement, that the 646th Brigade conducted the raids and had found rocket building materials in the building.

It claimed that it carried out strikes against nearly 200 Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip till Saturday and added that Paratrooper Brigade raided several apartments used by the Hamas in Gaza City's Shejaiya, and found firearms, explosive devices and other military equipment.

It also added that the troops discovered a 15-metre-long tunnel, which was later destroyed in an airstrike.

In southern Gaza, the IDF says the Commando Brigade directed an airstrike on a Hamas weapons depot at the home of an operative.

Since it invaded the Gaza Strip on October 27, the Israeli military said that it has lost 121 soldiers while more than 6,000 Hamas operatives were killed.