On the 8th, an Israeli soldier enters a ruined apartment building while conducting ground operations in the Gaza Strip. AP Yonhap News
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which has begun street fighting in Gaza City, claimed that ground operations were successful, including destroying 130 tunnels, and that “Hamas has lost control in northern Gaza.” However, analysts predict that it will still take several months to finally eradicate Hamas. “Hamas has lost control in northern Gaza and continues to lose control,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a daily video briefing on the 8th (local time). “Hamas has lost contact with its leadership.” He continued, “On this day, we witnessed 50,000 Gaza residents moving from the north to the south through the safe passage opened by the Israeli military,” adding, “This is because they also understood that Hamas had lost control in the north.” The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that about 40,000 northern residents have fled to southern Gaza on foot since the 4th. Hagari said today that a “humanitarian cessation of hostilities” would be allowed at the appropriate time to relocate residents to the south, but that there would be no “ceasefire.” They took a step back and said they would accept the humanitarian cessation of hostilities requested by the international community, including the United States, but showed an ambiguous attitude by not specifying the exact time. He also corrected the number of hostages taken to the Gaza Strip by saying that it was 239, not 240, and said that this was not the final number as the military was still investigating. The Israeli military announced in a separate press release that day that it had discovered and destroyed 130 tunnels in the Gaza Strip after commencing ground operations. They added, “A tunnel shaft and weapons were exposed and immediately destroyed near a university and amusement park ferris wheel in the northern Gaza Strip. All of this is evidence that Hamas is using civilians as human shields for terrorism.” He also added that several terrorists (Hamas members), including Hamas’ main weapons developer Mohsen Abu Zina, were killed. Despite the Israeli military’s boasts, analysts predict that it will take at least several months to achieve the final goal of destroying Hamas. Although the Israeli military is waging full-scale street fighting and increasing the level of pressure, Hamas is showing off its presence through Telegram by releasing body camera videos taken on the 2nd to 6th by fighters ambushed throughout Gaza City, CNN reported. ) reported. Hamas’ videos feature the northern city of Beit Hanoun and the Al Shati refugee camp, as well as battle scenes in rural areas filled with olive trees. “It is unclear whether Hamas was actually successful in the operation shown in the video,” Sienne said, but pointed out that “although the Israeli military has been attacking Hamas positions and tunnels for more than a month, it shows how difficult it is to eliminate the militants.” “Hamas fighters will be lying in ambush in ruined buildings,” said Mark Hertling, a military analyst at CYEN. “It will take several months (to completely suppress them) because we have to search every building one by one,” he predicted. Reporter Kim Mi-hyang aroma@hani.co.kr
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2023-11-09 02:20:14
