The IDF predicts that they may completely defeat Hamas as a fighting force in several weeks.
By Shula Rosen
The IDF announce that Hamas’s power is breaking in Khan Younis, The Jerusalem Post reports.
After capturing Hamas headquarters in Khan Younis last week, the IDF says they have beaten 3 of the 4 Hamas battalions there, numbering 4,500 thousand troops each.
The IDF predicts that they may completely defeat Hamas as a fighting force in several weeks.
The Israeli army already dismantled Hamas’s military capabilities in the north and east of Khan Younis, is in the process of defeating the terror group in the south and is beating back their forces in the west.
Two-thirds of Hamas terrorists in Khan Younis have been killed which means a greater number of out of commission than the numbers for the whole of Gaza, with 20-30% Hamas terrorists killed and 48-60% wounded.
In addition, IDF has struck 3,320 targets and 400 tunnel shafts in Khan Yunis, 150 of which it has destroyed.
This is impressive considering that the IDF began its operations in Khan Younis as late as December.
IDF Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus revealed his initial strategy for Khan Younis earlier in the war, which was to first destroy Hamas capabilities above ground and to carefully employ engineering crews to destroy the tunnels underground.
The plan to prevent casualties was to have only robots and a small number of specialized troops would enter the terror tunnels.
However, the strategy was adjusted to have IDF troops operate above ground and in the tunnels simultaneously, an unprecedented plan.
Although the approach involves risk, it has enabled the IDF to completely eliminate Hamas’s military capabilities from areas and cutting off their ability to escape into tunnels.
In the Khan Younis tunnels, soldiers discovered explosives, war rooms and the office of the eastern Khan Younis Hamas commander who directed the October 7th massacre.