IDF brigade delivers decisive blow to Hamas stronghold

According to the IDF, hundreds of targets were dismantled, both on the surface and underground, including tunnels, bunkers and other combat installations.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The Israel Defense Forces revealed Thursday that the Givati Brigade, operating under the 162nd Division, concluded a month-long campaign in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza as part of Operation Gideon’s Chariots.

Throughout the operation, Givati forces worked closely with the Combat Engineering and Armored Corps to neutralize extensive terrorist infrastructure.

According to the IDF, hundreds of targets were dismantled, both on the surface and underground, including tunnels, bunkers and other combat installations.

Aerial support from the Israeli air force played a key role in the mission, coordinating with ground units to strike numerous Hamas positions.

These included command centers, surveillance posts and sniper nests that had threatened Israeli troops in the area.

Special forces from the elite Yahalom unit also took part in the effort, locating and destroying dozens of tunnel shafts and multiple subterranean passageways used by Hamas fighters for movement and concealment.

The military assessed that the operation delivered a decisive blow to Hamas’ Beit Hanoun Battalion, which it says no longer functions as a coherent fighting force.

“The battalion’s operational structure has been dismantled,” the IDF reported. “The companies that made up the unit are no longer active, and most of the terrorists who operated in the area have been eliminated.”

The Beit Hanoun campaign is one of several recent IDF offensives aimed at degrading Hamas’ military capabilities in northern Gaza.

Defense officials say the area served as a key stronghold for Hamas prior to the operation, with dense networks of tunnels and firing positions embedded within civilian infrastructure.

The news of the dismantling of Hamas forces in Beit Hanoun comes as the security cabinet decided Thursday night to expand military operations in Gaza with the aim of destroying Hamas and recovering the hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a temporary occupation of Gaza lasting four or five months over the initial objection of IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who was concerned about potential IDF losses and risk to hostages.