Hamas’ Rafah brigade defeated; Israel destroyed over 150 tunnels in area, Gallant says
The Hamas terror group's “Rafah brigade has been defeated, and over 150 tunnels have been destroyed in the region,” stated Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a visit to Israeli troops operating on the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border on Wednesday.
Gallant met with soldiers of the IDF’s 162nd Division and was briefed on the operations. He instructed the troops to focus on completing the destruction of the remaining tunnels.
“Out of the 150 tunnels that were destroyed, around 100 tunnels are in fact trenches dug using engineering tools above ground, and then covered with a meter or two of dirt,” Gallant said.
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“It is critical to remember the goals of the war and to achieve them — regarding Hamas, regarding the hostages [held by Hamas], and we also understand why we are looking toward the north,” he added.
Clearing the Rafah area and choking off what has been described as Hamas’ lifeline — namely, the tunnels running under the Philadelphi Corridor to Egypt — is currently one of the main Israeli goals during the fighting in Gaza.
The IDF's presence at the corridor is also among the main sticking points in the current hostage deal negotiations, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on an Israeli presence to rule out the return of Hamas smugglers to the area.
“The role of the IDF is to produce security alternatives for the political echelon, to be creative and determined in this matter,” IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari said when asked about the IDF’s opinion on the matter.
“We also need to allow the government the scope for a decision. We will know how to implement any decision that the political echelon makes,” he said during the press briefing.
According to recent IDF updates, the 162nd Division troops eliminated about 100 terrorists in Rafah over the last several days, 50 of them in the past 24 hours alone. The IDF also destroyed Hamas infrastructure in the Tel al-Sultan area and found explosives, grenades, Kalashnikov-type rifles and other weapons.
Around Khan Younis, just north of Rafah, Israel’s 98th Division is currently involved in heavy fighting against Hamas terrorists. During the past day, the troops “deepened their activities, in the Khan Yunis region and the outskirts of Deir al-Balah following accurate intelligence on the presence of terrorist infrastructures and Hamas terrorists in the region,” the IDF stated.
The northern outskirts of Khan Younis border in the area of Gaza’s “central camps,” which includes several towns the IDF hasn’t entered yet during the past 10 months of fighting.
The IDF further stated that around 30 airstrikes were carried out by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) during the past day. According to Palestinian sources, a strike on a house in the town of Deir al-Balah reportedly killed nearly 30 people.
The reports of Israeli operations in this area, together with Palestinian reports of Israeli tanks in the coastal town of Al-Karara, northwest of Khan Younis, have led some commentators to speculate the IDF might be preparing to create another corridor that would cut across the Gaza Strip, similar to the Netzarim Corridor in northern Gaza.
In Gaza City, IAF jets struck Hamas terrorists who were conducting operations in a command and control complex located in a former school, “in a targeted manner and under intelligence guidance,” the IDF said.
“From this compound, Hamas terrorists planned and carried out terrorist acts. … Many measures were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weaponry, and aerial intelligence.”
The IDF added: “The terrorist organization Hamas systematically violates international law, brutally exploiting civilian institutions and the population as human shields for terrorist acts.”
This article was originally published by All Israel News.
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