Hamas ‘crushed in north of Gaza’
TEL AVIV: The Israeli Defence Forces have declared a preliminary victory over the Hamas terrorist group’s operations in at least one part of Gaza.
“We have completed the dismantling of the Hamas military framework in the northern Gaza Strip,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
He added that Palestinian militants were now operating in the area only sporadically and “without commanders”.
“Now the focus is on dismantling Hamas in the centre of the Gaza Strip and in the south of the Gaza Strip,” he said, while acknowledging that the task will take time.
Israel vowed to crush Gaza’s Hamas rulers after they carried out the deadliest attack in the country’s history on October 7.
It resulted in the deaths of about 1140 people, most of them civilians. The militants also took some 250 hostages, 132 of whom remain in captivity, according to Israel.
The IDF responded by bombarding the territory and sending in ground forces, killing at least 22,722 people, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Speaking about military efforts to dismantle Hamas in the central and southern Gaza Strip, Admiral Hagari said, without elaborating: “We will do it in a different way. The refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip are crowded and full of terrorists.”
In the south, the large urban landscape of Khan Yunis has an elaborate underground network of tunnels, he said, adding: “It takes time.”
Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government had directed the army to “eliminate Hamas”, return all the hostages and ensure that Gaza will “never again be a threat to Israel”.
“The war must not be stopped until we achieve all of the goals,” he said.
It came as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met a political official of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Beirut as part of a push to avoid Lebanon being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war.
“It is absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict,” Mr Borrell said.