Israeli’s military says Hamas has been destroyed in northern Gaza and that the Jewish state will now concentrate on rooting out the terrorists from central and southern regions of the territory.
Israeli’s military says Hamas has been destroyed in northern Gaza and that the Jewish state will now concentrate on rooting out the terrorists from central and southern regions of the territory.
The Palestinian terror group’s 12 battalions operating out of north Gaza have been defeated, Israel Defense Forces Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced over the weekend.
“We have completed the dismantling of Hamas’s military framework in the northern Gaza Strip and will continue to deepen the achievement,” Hagari said.
“Now, we are focusing on dismantling Hamas in the central and southern Gaza Strip. We will do this differently, thoroughly, based on the lessons we have learned from the fighting so far.”
Around 8,000 Hamas militants have been killed in the IDF’s campaign in northern Gaza alone, with key commanders killed and about 30,000 weapons confiscated, according to the Financial Times.
The announcement marked a major development in Israel’s campaign to eradicate Hamas and came on the three-month anniversary of the terror group’s deadly Oct. 7 sneak attack on Israel, which resulted in about 1,200 Israeli deaths and 240 people taken hostage.
Before to the weekend announcement, Israeli had already begun scaling back its operations in north Gaza and diverting resources to offensives in central and south Gaza.
The Biden administration has been urging Israel to wind down its ground campaign and rocket assaults on the territory and focus instead on more targeted attacks on Hamas leadership, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained vows to not ease up on the war until the terror group no longer poses any threat to Israel.
