The 98th Division units completed their mission in the Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah area, after about a month of operational activity both above and below ground. The Arab spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Avichay Adraee, informed local residents that they can return to their homes safely, as the area has returned to the humanitarian zone of Gaza. During the operation, the troops neutralized more than 250 militants and destroyed numerous terrorist infrastructures as well as six kilometers of tunnels. Israeli forces in the past hours killed Wassem Hazem, leader of Hamas in Jenin (West Bank), along with two other militants who were with him. The announcement was made through a joint statement by the Israeli army (IDF), the security agency and the country’s police. The operation took place in the area of Northern Samaria. According to the statement, Hazem was involved in planning and executing armed and explosive attacks, and was continuously developing terrorist activities in the Judea and Samaria areas.
The Yahalom unit, in cooperation with the 7th Brigade and the Paratroopers Brigade, identified and destroyed six underground tunnels, extending for approximately 6 kilometers. In some of these tunnels, forces eliminated militants and found hideouts and arsenals. The 7th Brigade operated in the Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah areas, finding weapons, dismantling several ambushes, and destroying operational bases. Troops from the 77th Battalion raided a key Hamas outpost in Deir al-Balah, discovering weapons, a rocket launcher, and intelligence documents. In coordination with the Yahalom unit, they also identified and destroyed a tunnel that was part of the militants’ underground network in the area. The Paratroopers Brigade operated in both the Hamad area in western Khan Yunis and in the eastern part of the city, completing the mission in densely populated areas, including multi-story buildings. The division’s troops are now preparing to continue operations in the Gaza Strip.
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as early as July 2023 that without a change in the country’s governance, the risk of war would increase. The news was reported by Ynet, following statements by opposition leader Yair Lapid, who told an independent civilian commission of inquiry that there were several warnings before October 7 from security officials, who informed Netanyahu that his government’s policies were weakening Israel’s deterrence capacity. According to Ynet, on July 23, 2023, a day before the government’s vote on the controversial judicial reform, Bar met with Netanyahu to warn him that Israel’s enemies sensed a weakness in Israeli society, seeing it as an opportunity to attack and provoke a war. The same warning was also given to Yair Lapid. However, Ynet specifies that while Bar was certain of the risk of conflict, he was probably referring to a war in the north with Hezbollah or an escalation in the West Bank, rather than a conflict with Hamas. In response, the prime minister’s office stated that Netanyahu “never received any warning about a war in Gaza, neither on the date indicated in the article, nor before 6:29 a.m. on October 7.”
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