The IDF is expected to ramp up its military presence in the northern Gaza Strip over the upcoming weeks to counter attempts by Hamas to re-establish itself in the area as Israel’s focus moves to the south, Army Radio reported on Monday morning.
The Israeli military plans to carry out several divisional raids in the area, some considered extensive, in areas Hamas has targeted in its efforts to reinstate itself in Gaza’s northern towns.
Amid the reports, the IDF on Monday called on Gazans west of Gaza City, in the north, to evacuate southward.
#عاجل ‼️ نداء إلى السكان المتواجدين غرب مدينة غزة في أحياء النصر والشيخ رضوان ومخيم الشاطئ والرمال الشمالي والجنوبي والصبرة والشيخ عجلين وتل الهوى – من أجل سلامتكم نحثكم على اخلاء مناطق تواجدكم بشكل فوري والانتقال من خلال شارع الرشيد (البحر) نحو المآوي المعروفة في دير البلح pic.twitter.com/ABGOawNxzM
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) January 29, 2024
According to Army Radio, the IDF estimates that around 2,000 of Hamas’s terrorists remain in the northern Gaza Strip, with rockets on Sunday being fired at Ashkelon from the north for the first time in over a month.
The IDF also reported on clashes along Gaza’s northern coast over the past 24 hours, with troops locating and destroying a terror tunnel route, killing five terrorists in the process.
According to Israeli assessments, Hamas’s senior leadership has long lost contact with its remaining terror forces in the north. The IDF believes remaining terrorists in northern Gaza are being directed by Hamas’s commander of its Gaza City division, who remains alive and in hiding.
Israel stalling on Gaza’s day-after plans, Hamas takes advantage
Sources in the defense establishment cited the political echelon’s lack of decisiveness on the future of the Gaza Strip as a contributing factor to Hamas’s re-establishment in Gaza’s North.
“This is a dire hit to our war efforts,” the sources told Army Radio. “Israel is not preparing a civilian alternative for Hamas in Gaza…if there were a body with which we could coordinate the transfer of goods into the north, for example, Hamas would become irrelevant.
“Instead,” the sources added, “It is rehabilitating itself in terms of its civilian responsibilities.”
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