This (Sunday) evening, Defense Minister Yoav Galant visited the Southern Command Base in Beer Sheva and met with the commander, General Yaron Finkelman and his fellow officers, conducting the war in the Gaza Strip. During the visit, Galant gave the full-fledged message that the citizens of Israel have been waiting upon for several months: Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade has been defeated. In the background is the capture of Nasser Hospital, which received international attention, during which hundreds of terrorists who tried to take refuge at the humanitarian site were arrested, and medication that were transferred from Israel to Hamas for the hostages were found – which clearly did not reach their destination (and if so, and the hostages were held in the hospital – even worse).
The defeat of the Khan Yunis Brigade, the second largest and most important in the Gaza Strip, was achieved by the expanded 98th Division, which has been operating in its sector for almost two months. The division, led by Brigadier General Dan Goldfus, and comprising the best of the IDF brigades, has achieved exceptional achievements reletive to the history of the warfare against the terrorist organizations, with thousands of terrorists killed, and many more wounded and captured – at the cost of about 30 IDF casualties (a heavy price by all accounts, but a tremendous operational achievement). The battle is not over yet – Galant referred to the brigade framework of Khan Yunis, but there are still battalion and company frameworks left. The smaller the frames that are dismantled, the smaller Hamas’ capabilities to carry out significant attacks and threaten our forces and the surrounding communities. Treatment of each and every terrorist and terrorist will take a long time and may not be completed, but dismantling the framework (and making sure that it is not rebuilt by a permanent presence in the region) is the necessary operational achievement.
According to Galant, at this stage Hamas has 6 active battalions in the Gaza Strip – 2 in the centeral camps and 4 in Rafah – which are inescapable of disarming. According to Galant, the Hamas political leadership in the Gaza Strip has ceased to function, and this is evident in the hostage negotiations that have been stalled due to conection difficulties in Hamas that prevent them from defrosting their positions. “What stands between them (Hamas) and total collapse as a military system – is an IDF decision. There is no one to help them – there are no Iranians and there is no international assistance,” Galant concluded.
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