Nearly three months into the Rafah offensive, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that Hamas’ terrorist fighting forces has collapsed in the southern Gaza stronghold.
With most of Hamas terror fighters trying to flee the Rafah combat zone, the IDF is working to destroy the extensive tunnel network running between southern Gaza and Egypt. The military has succeeded in neutralising 80 percent of terror tunnels below the 9-mile-long Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, Israeli media reports say.
The Times of Israel reported Saturday:
The Hamas terror group’s Rafah Brigade had “collapsed” as a result of the Israel Defense Forces’s ongoing offensive in the city in the southern Gaza Strip, military sources said on Thursday. (…)Hamas’s Rafah Brigade was made up of four battalions: Yabna (South), Shaboura (North), Tel Sultan (West), and East Rafah. It had been considered one of the terror group’s final strongholds in the Strip until the IDF’s 162nd Division launched its offensive there in May.Amid the fighting in Rafah, the military has seen Hamas operatives increasingly trying to escape from tunnels and flee north to the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone, instead of fighting troops. IDF troops have successfully been ambushing Hamas gunmen in the area who have tried to flee, the military sources added.The IDF has said it has killed more than 1,000 terror operatives in Rafah amid the ongoing offensive, and that many gunmen fled with the Palestinian population as the operation began.In addition to fighting in the city itself, the operation in Rafah has also focused on the Philadelphi Corridor — the Egypt-Gaza border area, where IDF combat engineers have discovered dozens of tunnels, some of them cross-border.In addition to fighting in the city itself, the operation in Rafah has also focused on the Philadelphi Corridor — the Egypt-Gaza border area, where IDF combat engineers have discovered dozens of tunnels, some of them cross-border.
The key focus the Rafah operation is now to locate the remaining Israeli hostages and eliminate Hamas’ terrorist leaders — particularly group’s leader Yahya Sinwar. Recent IDF strikes to take out Sinwar have been called off because the terror chief has been hiding behind dozens of handcuffed Israeli hostages and Gaza civilians, news reports suggest.
“According to some reports, the terror chief has surrounded himself with all of the captives underground, though other sources have placed the number much lower,” The UK weekly Jewish Chronicle reported Wednesday. “Israel has already had several opportunities to eliminate Sinwar after locating the tunnels in which he was hiding but the attack was not authorised because of the danger to hostages and Palestinian civilians.”
Hamas’ Jenin chief and several other Hamas and Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror operatives were killed on Friday as IDF’s West Bank counter-terrorism operation entered its third day. The IDF operation is supported by the Shin Bet security agency (ISA) and the country’s Border Police.
“In the last few hours, during the IDF, ISA, and Israel Border Police counterterrorism operation in the northern Samaria area, the forces identified a terrorist cell led by Wassem Hazem, the head of the Hamas terrorist organization in Jenin, in a vehicle in the area,” the IDF announced in a press release Friday.
“Following the identification, Israel Border Police forces, following precise ISA intelligence, encountered and eliminated Hazem. Hazem was involved in carrying out and directing shooting and bombing attacks, and continuously advanced terrorist activities in the Judea and Samaria area,” the IDF added.
The Jenin Hamas chief’s two deputies were also eliminated in the operation. “Following the elimination of Hazem, two additional terrorists, Maysara Masharqa and Arafat Amer, who were in the vehicle with him, attempted to flee the scene. However, shortly afterward, they were also killed by an IDF aircraft,” the Jerusalem Post reported Friday.
The latest round of Israeli military operation in the West Bank, described by the media as the biggest mission if its kind since the October 7 attack, is centered around Jenin and nearby terrorist strongholds belonging to the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups.
“Since Tuesday night, the IDF, ISA, and Israel Border Police forces haven been conducting a precise, targeted regional operation across three terror hubs. The forces are operating against terrorist cells of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations in the area, as well as ongoing attempts by the enemy to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers,” The IDF disclose Friday. “So far, the forces have eliminated 20 terrorists in exchanges of fire and airstrikes and apprehended 17 suspects linked to terrorist activities. Additionally, they have destroyed dozens of explosive devices and confiscated large quantities of weapons,”
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