On Tuesday, IDF sources said that the number remained at 14,000, but what was strange about the number was that the IDF said around 1,000 Hamas fighters had been killed in the last two weeks of fighting.
If true, that would mean that less than 13,000 Hamas fighters had been killed as of early July and possibly another 1,000 or so less back in early May.
IDF increases military pressure across Gaza
The IDF states that several alternatives for maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor are being discussed privately. During the week, the IDF changed the deployment of operating forces in Gaza. Division 99, which had secured the Nitzarim Corridor in the center of the Strip, was relieved by Division 252, which replaced them in the area.
The IDF is increasing pressure on Hamas on the three main fronts in the depths of the territory: Rafah, the center, and the north of the Gaza Strip. Through the Gaza Division, the IDF is also deepening its comprehensive management and strategic control of the operational area.
The goal is to create an exposed area without infrastructure and buildings along the entire Gaza Strip at a depth of one kilometer from the border fence with Israel, which will be off-limits to Gazans. The IDF notes a series of achievements thus far.
The first achievement - the operation in Rafah:
The IDF is dissatisfied with clearing an 800-meter strip north along the entire Philadelphi Corridor but has deepened its hold into the city, exposing underground tunnel and command systems. In this area, the IDF identified production facilities for weapons and missiles.
The IDF destroyed dozens of kilometers of tunnels, most were operational, and crossed the border into Egypt. Some tunnels were large enough to allow vehicles to travel through them.
Underground tunnel network
All of the tunnels in Gaza, particularly in Rafah, operate as a single system, all connecting into a comprehensive underground network. Each section has a different operational or logistical purpose.
For example, there are sections of defensive tunnels, command tunnel complexes, intelligence tunnel complexes, weapon manufacturing tunnels, storage facilities, and attack tunnels that approach the border with Israel or cross into Egypt. Simultaneously, the IDF is working to destroy hundreds of buildings in Rafah that were used for terrorist infrastructure and operations.
The second achievement - targeting Hamas's infrastructure:
The IDF identifies severe morale damage within Hamas operatives, who are struggling to fight. Some are emerging from the tunnels and trying to gather within shelter complexes, which the IDF continues to strike, including today in Nuseirat. In the past week, hundreds of terrorists have been eliminated in these missions.
In an operation by Division 99 and Division 98 in Shejaia and the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, the IDF discovered UNRWA's "Dalal" compound. This compound included a school building, a clinic, and a food warehouse supplied by humanitarian convoys.
In reality, Hamas had turned the site into a large command center with hundreds of terrorists inside. The IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade took control of the site and killed about 150 terrorists. At the site, they seized all of Hamas's computer, communication, and intelligence equipment inside.
Multiple IDF sources projected continued confidence that Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif is dead.
The Post witnessed videos and photos of visual observation of the target house, nearby makeshift roof-covered areas, and trees both before the IDF struck the area and after.The explosion was of tremendous strength, and no survivors were seen exiting.
The remaining x-factors are the slight possibility that Deif managed to leave before the attack without surveillance noticing, though he had definitely been on location for some time, and the many times he had somehow rallied from severe injuries from prior IDF assassination attempts to emerge having survived.
Destruction of armed capabilities:
The volume of anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades had fallen to 134 from 652, though due to the larger initial volume of RPGs as opposed to the smaller number of rockets, this still left Hamas with a fairly large inventory of RPGs to conduct ambushes against IDF soldiers nearby.
Further, Hamas was down to 133 improvised explosives from a high point of 662, something which again has depleted long-term or strategic fighting but provides the capability to continue to sabotage nearby IDF soldiers for some time.
In the wider perspective, the IDF said that Hamas is down to between 1,000-1,500 rockets.
Pre-war, Hamas reportedly had around 15,000 rockets,
The IDF is still concerned that Hamas still has a small supply of long-range rockets that could strike Tel Aviv, and on July 1, the terror group showed it could still execute a complex operation in which it fired 20 rockets from the Khan Yunis area into Israeli Gaza border areas and communities.
But overall, the IDF said that Hamas has been reduced to a mode of survival as opposed to being able to do very much strategic or proactive attack plans.