Click to see full-size image. Source: the Israeli Defense Forces.
Late on November 1, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had completely encircled the northern part of the Gaza Strip after fierce clashes with the Hamas Movement and other Palestinian armed factions.
“Our troops have completed the encirclement of Gaza City, the center of Hamas activity,” IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a press conference.
Ahead of the announcement, the IDF said that its ground forces killed some 130 fighters during recent clashes in northern Gaza.
The Israeli Air Force has also continued its strikes on Gaza, the IDF said, adding that warplanes struck a number of military headquarters used by senior Hamas officials, among other targets belonging to the movement.
Navy forces have also participated in the clashes. The IDF said that missile boats aided ground forces by striking booby-trapped buildings and Hamas observation posts. Several Hamas sites along the coast were also struck, according to the IDF.
Clashes continued in northern Gaza on November 2, with the IDF reporting more strikes on Hamas targets across the Strip overnight.
The IDF also announced that the commander of Hamas’s Sabra-Tel al-Hawa battalion, Mustafa Dalloul, was killed in one of the recent strikes on Gaza.
The advance in northern Gaza didn’t come without a cost. The IDF named four more soldiers who were killed during clashes in the Strip, raising the Israeli death toll from the ongoing ground operation to 23.
The last four casualties were from the 460th Armored Brigade’s 195th “Adam” Battalion, the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd “Ha-Bok’m” Battalion and the 401st Armored Brigade’s 9th “Eshet” Battalion. All three battalions operate Merkava MK 4 main battle tanks. Three such tanks may have been destroyed.
Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, claimed in a voice message on November 1 that the equivalent of a tank battalion has been destroyed since the start of the Israeli ground operation in Gaza. Six tanks, two armored personnel carriers and one armored bulldozer were destroyed by Hamas fighters during a single hit-and-run attack, according to the spokesman.
On November 2 morning, Hamas said that its fighters killed four Israeli soldiers, targeted a tank with rocket-propelled grenades and destroyed three other vehicles of the IDF.
Most of the IDF’s losses in Gaza were caused by attacks launched from tunnels. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on November 1 that the IDF has “unique solutions” to demolish Hamas’s vast network of tunnels under the Strip.
“We have unique solutions to reach all the tunnels and dismantle them underground; we are ready to do it,” Gallant said to troops of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit.
“We will reach everywhere, and then the terrorists will have two options: either die in the tunnel or come out. And there, either die from the fire of our forces or surrender unconditionally,” he said, without providing any details.
The encirclement of northern Gaza does not mean the end of the battle there. Palestinian fighters will likely continue to resist, especially that they have no way of withdrawing to the southern part of the Strip. As the IDF moves its troops to highly-dense urban areas in Gaza City, its losses will increase significantly.
