The IDF and Shin Bet killed two senior Hamas terrorists who operated in Hamas’s intelligence unit in Gaza, the IDF and Shin Bet stated on Thursday.
This week, the Israeli air force, operating on intelligence supplied by the IDF and Shin Bet, successfully targeted Abdel Aziz Rantisi and Ahmed Aiush.
Rantisi, a seasoned intelligence operative, was responsible for Hamas’s field intelligence in Gaza and had been among those who planned the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, the IDF said.
Aiush was an operative from the observation unit of Hamas’s Carrara Battalion.
The two Hamas members were both killed in a strike on Hamas’s central intelligence command center, the IDF and Shin Bet, added. The command center was a key piece of Hamas infrastructure that was instrumental in the terror organization’s ability to direct and support attacks on IDF soldiers.
Hamas cell fires anti-tank missiles
Hamas cell firing an RPG launcher. December 7, 2023. (Credit: IDF)
As Hamas’s intelligence capabilities took a severe hit, the IDF said on Thursday that Israeli intelligence identified a Hamas cell conducting operations and firing anti-tank missiles from within civilian areas of the Gaza Strip.
All members of the terror cell were subsequently killed by a targeted airstrike directed by IDF ground troops.
Hamas infrastructure in civilian and residential areas
Also on Thursday, the IDF announced that it had located more Hamas terror infrastructure embedded in the center of civilian areas in Shejaia, a neighborhood in Gaza City.
The 36th Division, during close-quarters fighting with Hamas terrorists, located and destroyed weapons and subterranean infrastructure located near civilian buildings.
Further, the IDF stated that as soldiers from the Kfir Brigade worked to destroy RPG launchers, ammunition, and other Hamas military equipment being stored inside a civilian residential building, soldiers of the Golani Brigade located and destroyed tunnel shafts and rocket launchers, killing dozens of terrorists during their operations.
The Kfir Brigade soldiers also located a tunnel shaft inside a school.
The IDF added that the 188th Brigade, along with the Yahalom Unit, found and demolished a further seven tunnel shafts in the area. They also found weapons, ammunition, and explosives and located another tunnel shaft in a school area.
This latter shaft reportedly contained dozens of terrorists which were subsequently eliminated.
IDF progress in southern Gaza
Both on Tuesday and Wednesday, the IDF signaled that it had made substantial new advances in Khan Younis, penetrating to the heart of Hamas’s southern capital, and starting to expand attempts to take control of a variety of neighborhoods.
However, despite the advances the IDF has made in north, central, and now southern Gaza predictions for the IDF to take control of southern Gaza have ranged from weeks to the end of January, such that there could still be a long haul before the main round of fighting is over.
Even after the main fighting is over, assuming the IDF defeats Hamas’s large forces, top defense officials expect a lower-grade Hamas insurgency for three to nine months.
One potential sign of progress was a relative reduction in rockets, though there were still frequent sirens along Israel’s South.
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