Israeli Chief of Employees Herzi Halevi visited northern Gaza on February 6 and met with IDF commanders and troopers. He mentioned Israel continued to “advance” within the Gaza Strip. He additionally mentioned that there’s navy stress to free the hostages in Gaza. There are 136 hostages held in Gaza and Israel believes not less than 31 of them have been killed since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Halevi met with the commander of Israel’s Southern Command and the commanders of the 162nd.n.d IDF division in northern Gaza and mentioned the present technique in Gaza with them. The 162ndn.d has been main operations all through northern Gaza since October.
Halavi’s go to centered on a key problem surrounding Israel’s present operations in Gaza. Israel has withdrawn some items from Gaza over the previous month, and combating has shifted to focus totally on Hamas strongholds in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Nonetheless, combating continues in northern Gaza. Israeli forces have needed to return to areas the place they already defeated Hamas battalions, such because the dense city space of Shati close to the seaside northwest of Gaza Metropolis. “We got here to the identical place, however it’s a very completely different story. We work with completely different intelligence, completely different targets, completely different efficiency, we kill extra enemy forces,” mentioned Halevi.
The Israeli chief of workers in contrast the present section of combating in Gaza to “peeling off layers.” This apparently implies that the primary layers had been defeated within the air marketing campaign in October, after which the bottom maneuver in November and December in northern Gaza. Now a brand new layer has been revealed as Hamas parts proceed to emerge. “What we do now on this iteration is return, generally for the second time, generally for the third time, to the identical room and cement our achievements. The precept of raids, high quality centered efforts, the right fight administration, shock and crafty – will cement the achievement. Extra terrorists killed, extra commanders killed, extra infrastructure destroyed,” he mentioned.
The IDF operation now consists of “shock assaults” in areas of Gaza. One other a part of this marketing campaign is the continued effort in southern Gaza of 98th division. This unit has been working in Khan Younis since early December. It continues to seek out Hamas tunnels within the metropolis. For instance, on February 7, the IDF mentioned a Hamas tunnel one kilometer lengthy was uncovered. “The tunnel was used to cover high-ranking members of the Hamas terrorist group and to carry hostages,” the IDF mentioned.
The operations in northern and southern Gaza befell as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel will proceed to struggle in Gaza in opposition to Hamas till victory is achieved. These feedback had been made when US Secretary of State Antony Blinked visited Israel on February 7. As well as, it comes a day after Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s conflict cupboard, said that Israel would enter Rafah close to the Egyptian border, the final Hamas stronghold in Gaza. Any operation in Gaza appears to be controversial, and so have the US, the UN and different international locations raised issues about this potential subsequent step in Gaza. Regional media, akin to Al-Ain within the Gulf, have profiled Rafah, asking if the “countdown” has begun to an Israeli offensive there.
