The IDF on Thursday expanded its renewed invasion of Gaza into a number of new areas, including the once impregnable Shejaia in northern Gaza.
As part of these new moves, the military is shifting a substantial number of Gazans who had returned to northern Gaza back south and west to the al-Masawi humanitarian zone.
In 2014, the battles between Israel and Hamas over Shejaia were the harshest of the conflict, leading to relatively heavy casualties on both sides and the need for heavier Israeli bombing and artillery.
During earlier rounds of the current war, while the IDF did defeat Hamas’s Shejaia battalions, it took much longer than predicted, and the military left fighting those battalions as its last move in northern Gaza.
Also, during this renewal of hostilities and invasion, which started on March 18-19, the IDF entered several other areas of northern Gaza before trying to once again take over Shejaia.
IDF strikes terror targets
Discussing the latest progress in the war on Thursday night, IDF Chief Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin said the IDF has killed 250 Hamas terrorists since it renewed hostilities in his first press conference since taking office on March 27.
Defrin also said that, more broadly, the military has struck over 600 targets in Gaza since March 18, including 60 since a stronger invasion push on Wednesday. He said that those attacks, mostly from the air force, would pave the way for even more ground troops to enter deeper into Gaza.
Further, the new IDF spokesperson said that the army, often with the help of the air force, had assassinated 12 senior Hamas officials.
Describing the new actions taken on Wednesday, Defrin said, “We stepped up [the invasion] to a new level to serve the goals of the war: returning the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and political rule.”
Defrin and other top Israeli political and defense officials claimed that putting such enormous pressure on Hamas would likely have the terror organization soon agreeing to more concessions in the hostage negotiations with Israel. However, there were no signs on Thursday that Hamas would make more moves toward Israel’s position in the negotiations than it had earlier in the week. Then, Hamas had agreed to provide Israel with five live hostages and some deceased ones as part of an additional 50-day ceasefire agreement, leading to an end to the war.
IDF Arabic spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee said on X/Twitter that civilians in Tal al-Hawa, west Zeitoun, Gaza's Old City, and al-Sabra must evacuate.
With the IDF’s latest pushes on Wednesday in deep southern Gaza, in Rafah, and in northern Gaza, it will be close to controlling 30% of Gazan territory, defense sources said later Wednesday.
On Wednesday, IDF Division 36 finally started to take a full hand in the invasion, focusing on northern Rafah. Its operations add to those of other divisions already active in Gaza since mid-March, including Division 252 in northern and central Gaza, and 143 in deep southern Rafah.
The latest IDF maneuvers could eventually cut off Rafah from Khan Yunis, on the higher part of southern Gaza.
While The Jerusalem Post and other media were told about the IDF building a new defense line, the Morag Corridor, to accomplish this cut-off strategy, the Israeli censor had barred publication of the specifics, until suddenly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to publicize the new moves.
Questioned about how the censor could claim revealing the Morag defense line too soon could endanger Israeli soldiers’ lives in the field, while Netanyahu then revealed exactly that, Defrin said that he only represented the IDF, in implicit criticism of the prime minister.
Despite the expanded areas of operation, defense sources have said they are continuing to avoid operating in areas in which hostages might be held.
Further, defense sources said that even though increasing the Gaza invasion forces to three divisions, so far, has required some new rounds of reservists call-ups, the government still will not need to order a very large wave of reserve call-ups, unless it engages in a much larger invasion of Gaza.