Israel-Hamas War - What happened on day 77?

The IDF destroyed a Hamas tunnel network in southern Gaza City’s Issa district during operational activity in the area over the last few weeks, the IDF said on Friday.

The demolished tunnel network served as a subterranean post for the Gaza-based Islamist terror organization, the IDF added. Other buildings being used as Hamas headquarters were also reportedly destroyed.

The news comes a day after the IDF announced the troops from the Yahalom special operations unit of the IDF’s Combat Engineering Corps, along with the 401st Brigade combat team, destroyed an extensive tunnel network used by senior Hamas leadership beneath Gaza City's Shejaia neighborhood.

As part of the Israeli forces hitting Hamas in the south of Gaza City, the Yiftah Battalion, along with combat engineering forces, targeted the Hamas headquarters in the area.

During their raid on the infrastructure, the IDF troops observed a terrorist squad attempting to launch an attack on the Israeli soldiers. The troops subsequently engaged and successfully eliminated the terrorists in close-quarters combat, the IDF continued.

Throughout the operational activity, the IDF also reported that many other terrorists, buildings used for terror activities, and weapons were destroyed.

Concurrently, troops of the IDF Paratroopers Brigade operating in the Issa area uncovered a number of shafts descending into the since-razed underground tunnel network.

Examination reveals the massive extent of the subterranean tunnel network 

Additional troops from Yahalom and the Oketz K-9 Unit assessed the tunnel complex beneath what the IDF has dubbed the "Issa" post, revealing a multi-level subterranean structure.

The IDF noted that the various floors of the structure were used for storage, hideouts, command and control, and to facilitate the movement of terrorists between different locations in that area of the Gaza City.

Subsequently, after employing a variety of technological capabilities with the aid of 99th Division’s combat engineering forces to further investigate the tunnel system, the troops destroyed it, the IDF said.

The tunnel network, which was reportedly hundreds of meters long, was documented with footage obtained by the Marom Brigade's Oketz K-9 Unit's dog cameras.

Dogs are regularly used by the IDF to act as the head of an advancing force. Earlier this week, Golani forces sent a camera-equipped dog ahead of them into a suspicious area. The dog was subsequently shot by Hamas terrorists.

The footage, which has been released by the IDF, recorded the terror infrastructure located in the tunnels.

The facilities were equipped with concrete bunkers, water, and electricity.

The K-9 units and their dogs have been active since the start of the war gathering intelligence that allows soldiers to enter Gaza’s various tunnel networks.

A group of journalists entered southern Gaza on Thursday – in that area for the first time – including the remains of one of the homes of Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

This visit was likely the closest the media has gotten to Sinwar – and the remaining hostages were taken from Israel on October 7 – given IDF intelligence predictions that he is hiding in the tunnels of Khan Yunis with hostages nearby.

Under constant background shooting and large explosions said to be a mix of air strikes, artillery, or tank attacks, highly armored “Namer vehicles” escorted the journalists on the trip, traveling between an IDF base, the Khan Yunis headquarters of the IDF, Sinwar’s house, and a stop to get supplies. These vehicles are capable of resisting rocket-propelled grenade hits.

An IDF airstrike has turned Sinwar’s house into a crater. Another house across the street (now rubble) saw heavy fighting just two days before, according to IDF sources. Though the house was still standing, it bore signs of explosions and bullet holes throughout.

The Khan Yunis crater where the home of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar used to be, December 21, 2023 (credit: YONAH JEREMY BOB)

Two key IDF commanders gave The Jerusalem Post on-and-off-record updates on the status of the all-important front, which will decide the fate of Hamas, the Israeli hostages, and the war in general.

IDF made considerable progress in Khan Yunis, commander says

“This crate is what is left of the house,” said IDF 98th Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Dan Goldfus added that they attacked it from the air.

Goldfus said that the military made considerable progress against Hamas in three weeks of fighting in Khan Yunis.

He said the IDF’s artillery and air force undertook 1,300 attacks in Khan Yunis alone, eliminating 50% of the 150 tunnel shafts found so far, including Hamas’s head of drone warfare, head of the lookout units, and head of Nukhbeh forces in the field.

IDF Commando Commander Col. Omer stated, “We are in the heart of Khan Yunis in the neighborhood of the Sinwar family, a place viewed as the heart of terror in Khan Yunis. This area has lots of terror infrastructure, with areas for firing rockets. Many terrorists come out of here, and we are having face-to-face battles with them every day.”

“We have been fighting here for more than two weeks. We will stay to clean out the area [of Hamas],” he added.

Omer expressed confidence that his forces would succeed at the goals set for them by the government, including one particular goal: The steady and patient movement of Palestinian civilians away from the fighting parts of Khan Yunis. They said that civilians have mostly followed evacuation instructions to Al Masawi to the west, or Rafah to the south, on Egypt’s border.

The IDF has collected significant Hamas intelligence items left behind that aided the planning of future IDF operations, including one which was a classified Hamas financial report for the Khan Yunis Brigade, that details more than a million dollars spent on various items related to building their terror tunnels back in 2022.

The officials said they were relieved to receive additional reinforcements from IDF Kfir Brigade Unit 900.

Other than general pressure to squeeze Hamas out of any parts of Gaza it still controls, none of the IDF officials said they had any specific signs that they were closer to catching Hamas’s high command, or to finding and rescuing hostages.

The IDF said it destroyed 1,500 tunnel shafts this week and withstood over 22,000 attacks (as of December 10) – the vast majority against northern Gaza. These figures are impressive, but a senior IDF source suggested that the destruction of all of Khan Yunis’s tunnels could take years to frame southern Gaza as still being very much mid-operation.

All indications are that the battle for Khan Yunis, as much as it is progressing in serious ways, could easily extend into “Stage 3” of the war – months past when the “main war” is expected to end by January 31.

Some of this can be attributed to the vast amount of time it took to move civilians out of harm’s way. Another reason is that Hamas’s top officials have less of a place to flee to from Khan Yunis the same way they could from northern Gaza, while another reason is that Khan Yunis Brigade chief Rafa’a Salameh and his commanders are considered among Hamas’s toughest.

Goldfus’ 98th Division has lost around 90 soldiers since October 7, 20 lost during the ground invasion.

IDF soldiers operate in Gaza's Khan Yunis area on December 21, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

IDF reports fewer Hamas counterattacks in Gaza

The IDF said particular progress was noted specifically in eliminating lookouts and against general Hamas morale. One example of this is that in the last week, the IDF said it saw fewer Hamas counterattacks than in the first two weeks of December.

In Khan Yunis, IDF sources suggested there was much more work to do on Hamas’s tunnel network and command structure. Goldfus said, “We are fighting with the enemy from location to location both above ground and below ground. The enemy built generally in Gaza – especially in Khan Yunis – a substantial tunnel network to fight us, to survive [our attacks], to move from place to place [unseen by the IDF]. We are forcing them out to fight them, and are destroying the [Hamas] infrastructure above and below ground.”

Military sources described facing four distinct kinds of fighting in different geographic landscapes of Khan Yunis. In small village areas, most attacks are from underground, as in where suddenly several Hamas forces emerge with rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

In agricultural areas, the IDF faces many more improvised explosives, while in built-up more urban areas, the IDF is being confronted with anti-tank missiles guided by lookouts, though Khan Yunis does not have as many buildings or as many very high buildings as Gaza City (at most, a small number of 12-floor buildings).

In Bani Suheila, a neighborhood in eastern Khan Yunis, the IDF has faced drone and rocket attacks, and more group counterattacks in general.

In another area, the IDF faces much more intense face-to-face fighting.

IDF soldiers operate in Gaza's Khan Yunis area on December 21, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

The IDF is also using information warfare to inject a wedge between the general Gazan population and Hamas, Goldfus explained. The name in Arabic for the informational warfare campaign refers both to “opening the gates of hell” for Hamas as well as “a new horizon” for Palestinian civilians.

Standing over the crater of what was once Sinwar’s house, Goldfus inverted an Arabic Hamas slogan for Hamas bringing a “deluge” of terror to Israel on October 7 into Arabic along the lines of “all that is left you is sand.”

Is Israel’s entire strategy to recover the hostages from Hamas based on a false assumption? A visit to Khan Yunis on Thursday helped crystallize something that had been alluded to by a few Israeli political and defense officials.

To wit: Perhaps Israel thinks it can surround Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to the point where he believes his choices are to either cut a hostage deal – including an end to Hamas’s rule – in exchange for his life, or he can die a martyr while taking some hostages with him?

This question is at the heart of Israel’s strategy, and it is not clear that there is a Plan B for what to do if Sinwar is ready to die.

Is Yahya Sinwar ready to die?

If he is, it would seem that Israel’s only two remaining choices would be to either cave into Hamas’s demands to halt the war – without dismantling it – or launch a military operation to rescue the hostages, which could miraculously succeed or end in tragedy.

There is, though, a third option: Continue the war long enough to take control of nearly the entire Gaza Strip, except for where Sinwar is hiding, declare the “main war” completed, and start an extended game of chicken for an indefinite period to wear Sinwar down.

But that strategy relies on an important premise: that Sinwar will eventually choose to live and will not agree to die a martyr.

IDF and Shin Bet forces operate in Khan Yunis neighborhood where Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, lived in recent years. December 15, 2023. (credit: IDF)

Given that playing field, does this premise make sense?

There is evidence that Sinwar wants to live. If he were aching to be a martyr, he might have stayed, fought, and held the line at one of the key Hamas sites in Gaza City in northern Gaza in mid-November.

Instead, we know that at some point, Sinwar fled to southern Gaza to live another day.

It is also possible that the last and current round of negotiations over hostages shows his rationality as an actor.

He was willing to give 81 hostages back to Israel to get a breather and angle for a ceasefire, something that someone who simply wants to die a “glorious” martyr would not have done.

Even as Sinwar rejects Israel’s offers for more hostage deals, he continues to express an openness to returning more hostages, as opposed to rushing to die in the battles at Khan Yunis.

But all of these judgments may be mistaken, just as Israel misjudged Sinwar for years, leading up to the surprise attack he coordinated on October 7.

For years, Israeli intelligence viewed him as a lightweight who was afraid to get into any significant fights and mostly wanted to hold control of Gaza, with all its limitations.

In 2018, when Sinwar pushed the strategy of mixing nonviolent border protests with low-grade violent attacks on IDF guards, Israeli intelligence viewed him as willing to use less-daring tactics to achieve geopolitical goals – all without risking too much.

Each time Israel fought Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hamas stayed out of the fighting, Israeli intelligence concluded that Sinwar was extremely deterred from taking the risk of angering the IDF too much.

October 7 completely shattered that paradigm.

Yahya Sinwar leader of the Palestinian Hamas Islamist movement hosts a meeting with members of Palestinian factions, at Hamas President's office in Gaza City, on April 13, 2022. (credit: ATTIA MUHAMMED/FLASH90)

Israeli intelligence started to talk about him as a pernicious, pathological liar, a megalomaniac who was willing to take risks to place his stamp on the history of Palestinian terrorism against the Jewish state.

Yet, even after Sinwar’s brilliantly concocted October 7 plans and his years of fooling Israeli intelligence and luring Jerusalem into complacency, almost every Israeli defense official still views him as a mostly rational actor.

They say he misjudged Israel and never thought that the “spoiled” Israelis of 2023 would be ready to fight a deep and bloody war in the heart of Gaza. Yet they have.

Had he known that the IDF would do to Gaza what it did, he would never have ordered the invasion or would have modified the plans to try to mitigate Israel’s fury, they say.

But what if that is not true?

What if he gambled on October 7 because he would rather die a martyr and fight a bloody war, killing many Israelis, including many hostages, than remain a weak-looking ruler of a weak Gaza in a mostly undeclared extended ceasefire with the Jewish state?

What if the only reason he made the original hostage deal was in the hope that it would force the IDF entirely out of Gaza, and that this is his final negotiation position?

What if negotiations are destined to fail – unless Israel changes its premise of who Sinwar is and how far he is willing to go?

Maybe he is only willing to cut a deal that lets him control Gaza and hold onto the victory of October 7. Or perhaps he would rather die.

If anything can be gleaned from Khan Yunis, it is that there is still some time before this issue reaches its peak. But as the IDF continues to make progress, not much more time is left.

Soldiers for the Yahalom special operations unit of the IDF’s Combat Engineering Corps, along with troops from the 401st Brigade combat team, destroyed the secret underground web of tunnels seized on Wednesday by Israeli forces, the IDF said on Thursday.

The demolition of the subterranean structure followed the revelation that the IDF had taken control of Hamas’s Gaza City “senior quarter,” the IDF added. The network of tunnel branches reportedly contained apartments, offices, and living quarters of senior Hamas officials.

Tunnels beneath an urban center

The tunnels led to above-ground sites in the Shejaia neighborhood's Palestine Square.

The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday that Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, and Muhammad Deif had used this network to manage the organization’s operation and movement through the center of Gaza City, which has nicknamed the area “Commander’s Square.”

Colonel Beni Aharon noted that the tunnels were used to store equipment taken from civilians that could enable Hamas leadership to shelter there for an extended period of time.

The IDF destroys Hamas operational tunnels in Palestine Square, December 21, 2023 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Further, the location of the tunnels was apparently strategically constructed in an area between a high-class residential area that includes a college, a hotel, a school for the deaf, and a fancy bridal shop.

The demolition of the tunnel network was carried out in a controlled manner, the IDF reported.

Hamas released a video on Thursday of three hostages killed in Hamas captivity and who had their bodies recovered by the IDF from the Gaza Strip last week.

In the video, the three hostages – Elia Toledano, Nik Beizer, and Ron Sherman, are seen holding up pieces of paper with their names and personal information. 

In a statement posted alongside the video, Hamas claimed that "they tried to keep them alive - but Netanyahu insisted on killing them."

Israeli hostages Nik Beizer, Ron Sherman, Elia Toledano, whose bodies were brought back to Israel, December 15, 2023 (credit: JERUSALEM POST)

The video then adds visual effects of shots and animated blood. They are shown in captivity smiling and speaking to each other.

The three were taken captive during the October 7 massacre against southern Israeli communities.

Israel responded on Thursday to claims by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that IDF troops committed war crimes in the Al Remal neighborhood of Gaza City.

In a press release on Wednesday, the UN-OHCHR published a report that accused IDF troops of perpetrating a massacre of unarmed civilians in Gaza City.

The report says that the OHCHR received reports that the IDF summarily killed at least 11 unarmed Palestinian men in front of their family members in the Al Remal neighborhood of Gaza City.

"On 19 December 2023, between 2000 and 2300 hours, IDF reportedly surrounded and raided Al Awda building, also known as the “Annan building”, in Al Remal neighborhood, Gaza City, where three related families were sheltering in addition to Annan family," reads the report.

"According to witness accounts circulated by media sources and EuroMed Human Rights Monitor, while in control of the building and the civilians sheltering there, the IDF allegedly separated the men from the women and children, and then shot and killed at least 11 of the men, mostly aged in their late 20’s and early 30’s, in front of their family members. The IDF then allegedly ordered the women and children into a room, and either shot at them or threw a grenade into the room, reportedly seriously injuring some of them, including an infant and a child. OHCHR has confirmed the killings at the Al Awda building, although the details and circumstances of the killings are still under verification. IDF has not released any information on the incident."

The OHCHR called on Israel to investigate the incident and if the allegations are found to be true, to bring those responsible to justice and implement measures to prevent it from happening again. 

Palestinians flee Gaza City, during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, near Gaza City November 24, 2023. (credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)

Israel responds

Israel responded to the allegations on X (formerly Twitter) calling them "unfounded and devoid of truth." Israel says that the IDF has already carried out an investigation based on the publically available information and found "no record of any operation, nor incident, in the Al Remal neighborhood in Gaza City that would support any of the allegations put forward by OHCHR."

The allegations made by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights are unfounded and devoid of truth.

The IDF has carried out an investigation into the claims based on the information made public and has no record of any operation, nor incident, in the… pic.twitter.com/sJJo8OgS3I

— Israel in UN/Geneva🇮🇱🇺🇳 | #BringThemHome (@IsraelinGeneva) December 21, 2023

Israel then accused the UN of sharing unverified and unsubstantiated claims which Israel claims is tantamount to blood libel.

Israel called on High Commissioner Volker Türk to publicly withdraw the accusations made by his office, declaring it " further evidence of the partisan and prejudiced approach of OHCHR when it comes to Israel and part of a concerning trend of publishing unverified information."

"Israel is committed to the respect of its international obligations and forcefully rejects any allegations of extrajudicial killings. We will continue to investigate any serious claims brought to Israel's attention."

Israel will seek to empower a moderate Palestinian entity to govern Gaza, Tzachi Hanegbi, The Head of the National Security Council of Israel, said in a Saudi editorial published Thursday.

Hanegbi’s column, which was published in Saudi newspaper Elaph, spoke in depth about the October 7th attacks and Israel’s plans for a post-war, post-Hamas Gaza Strip. 

"Israel is aware of the desire of the international community to integrate the Palestinian Authority into the Gaza Strip the day after the fall of Hamas. We make it clear that for this to happen, the PA will have to undergo a fundamental reform," Hanegbi wrote.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich disagreed with the Security Council Head’s opinion: "This position does not represent the position of the Israeli government and the prime minister should call him to order. The Palestinian Authority is not the solution – it is a significant part of the problem."

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a plenum session at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on December 3, 2023 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office rejected Smotritch's criticism of the article and clarified that Hanegbi was referring to the possibility of bringing an administration that does not support, promote, or advocate terrorism to rule over Gaza. “This is exactly what the Prime Minister said more than once, there is no change," Hanegbi declared.

"Unlike our enemies, we have no intention of hiding the truth, lying to ourselves and the world or pretending to mislead people… Our enemies are feeding you, men and women throughout the Arab world, with lies over and over again," Hanegbi wrote in the article. "They claim that Israel is committing genocide and harming innocent people. They even claim that there have never been tunnels for military purposes under hospitals, schools and civilian buildings.” 

“Unfortunately, civilian casualties in the later stages of war cannot be avoided,” Hanegbi conceded in the article. “However, Israel has done and is doing everything in its power to avoid harming innocent people,” he explained. 

"This war will be long, cruel and painful… and Israel will win," said Hanegbi. 

“We have no other choice, and we will not compromise on the safety of our citizens. We will fight with courage and strength against all our enemies. Those who thought we were afraid were wrong... Our best sons and daughters are ready these days to sacrifice their lives for the security of their country out of absolute unity and solidarity.”

What happens after Hamas is removed from Gaza?

After explaining Israel’s stance regarding the latest war effort, Hanegbi pivoted to what the Israeli government and IDF see as the future of a demilitarized Gaza Strip. 

“First and foremost it is important to create a better world for our children and the Palestinian children living in the Gaza Strip. They deserve to live a dignified life free without terror and fear of a brutal and bloodthirsty dictatorship," Hanegbi said.

“Together with the civilian and moderate forces in the Palestinian arena, the residents of Gaza, our partners in the international community, and the countries of the region, we will examine how to rebuild the strip… to create a new reality, a combination of regional and international forces will be necessary.”

"I want to make it clear that beyond the desire to ensure the security of our citizens, which we will no longer give up, Israel has no interest in controlling the affairs of the citizens in the Gaza Strip,” Hanegbi announced. “This will require a moderate Palestinian government – a body that enjoys broad popular support and legitimacy.” 

“Israel is aware of the desire of the international community and Arab countries to integrate the Palestinian Authority the day after Hamas, and we make it clear that the matter will require a fundamental reform of the PA, which will have to focus on raising the younger generation in Gaza, Ramallah, Jenin, and Jericho under values ​​of moderation and tolerance and without inciting violence against Israel,” Hanegbi stated.

“In its current form, the Authority is having difficulty doing this, and it will require a lot of effort and assistance from the international community and the countries of the region. We are ready for this effort," concluded Hanegbi.

A United Nations Security Council vote on a bid to boost aid to the Gaza Strip was delayed by another day to Friday even though Israel's ally the United States, which holds veto power, won the changes it wanted and said it could now support the proposal.

With Israel's military campaign to annihilate Hamas more than 10 weeks old, the amended resolution no longer dilutes Israel's control over all aid deliveries to 2.3 million people in Gaza. Israel monitors the limited aid deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.

After nearly two weeks of negotiations and already several days of delays on a vote, an agreement was struck late Thursday with the US that could allow a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates to be adopted.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that it was "a resolution that we can support," but she declined to specify if that meant the US would vote in favor or abstain, which would allow the resolution to be adopted.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield is pictured on a video display as she speaks to an emergency special session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, October 27, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR)

The vote, however, was delayed until Friday after Russia - also a veto power - and some other council members complained during closed-door talks about the amendments made to appease Washington, diplomats said. Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia declined to speak to reporters after the meeting.

A key sticking point for the US had been a proposal for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish a monitoring mechanism in Gaza "to exclusively monitor all humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza provided through land, sea and air routes" from countries not party to the war.

Instead the amended draft resolution asks Guterres to appoint a senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator to establish a UN mechanism for accelerating aid to Gaza through states that are not party to the conflict.

The coordinator would also have responsibility "for facilitating, coordinating, monitoring, and verifying in Gaza, as appropriate, the humanitarian nature" of all the aid.

'CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES'

The initial draft resolution had demanded that Israel and Hamas allow and facilitate "the use of all land, sea and air routes to and throughout the entire Gaza" for aid deliveries. That was changed to "all available routes," which some diplomats said allows Israel to retain control over access.

The US had also been wary of a reference in the draft resolution to a cessation of hostilities, said diplomats. The US and Israel oppose a ceasefire, believing it would only benefit Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and free hostages taken by Hamas.

The draft resolution now has blunted language to have the council call for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and also for creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities."

Washington traditionally shields its ally Israel from UN action and has already twice vetoed Security Council action since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 people taken hostage.

Israel has retaliated against Hamas by bombarding Gaza from the air, imposing a siege, and launching a ground offensive. Nearly 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Most people in Gaza have been driven from their homes and UN officials have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe. The World Food Programme says half of Gaza's population is starving and only 10% of the food required has entered Gaza since Oct. 7.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-778742Earlier on Thursday UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric had described the current monitoring of aid to Gaza as "complex."

"We have to deal with different parties. We're trying to bring humanitarian aid into a live conflict zone," he told reporters. "Ideally, if there were less burdens and there was no fighting, more aid could go in."

Earlier this month the 193-member UN General Assembly demanded a humanitarian ceasefire, with 153 states voting in favor of the move that had been vetoed by the United States in the Security Council days earlier.