Israel Defense Forces (IDF) engineers destroyed a network of underground tunnels of the Palestinian Hamas movement, where the offices of the militants' top military command were located. The army press service reported this on December 21.
“Last night, the IDF discovered terrorist infrastructure embedded in Hamas' elite neighborhood in Gaza City, including a vast network of strategic underground tunnels that connect hideouts and offices belonging to Hamas' top military and political leadership. Today (Thursday) the tunnel network was destroyed in a controlled manner,” the statement said.
Earlier in the day, the IDF announced that it had taken control of the “elite quarter” of Rimal in the Gaza Strip. During the operation, more than 600 Hamas members were killed.
Also on this day, an IDF major spoke about the timing of the cleansing of northern Gaza. The clearing operation in the northern Gaza Strip will continue for several more months. According to him, now the Israel Defense Forces are acting clearly and harmoniously, going through all the houses and confiscating weapons and ammunition from them.
On December 19, it became known that the city of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip came under the full control of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In total, according to the military, about 1 thousand Hamas militants were killed in Jabaliya. 3,500 Palestinians were detained. The IDF noted that the city contained training grounds, command centers, weapons factories and tunnels.
Prior to this, on December 9, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said that he saw signs of the collapse of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Halevi also called on the military to act more diligently, adding that Israel needs to increase pressure on Hamas.
On the morning of October 7, Hamas subjected Israeli territory to massive rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and also invaded the border areas in the south of the country. That same day, Israel began retaliating against targets in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians are seeking to return the borders between the two countries to the lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestine wants to create its own state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and make East Jerusalem its capital. Israel refuses these conditions.
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