Israel eliminated more than a dozen Hamas leaders in the week after the Israeli Defense Forces resumed airstrikes and ground operations following the collapse of the ceasefire.
Many experts speculate that Israel was able to use the two-month ceasefire as an opportunity to gather intelligence about the whereabouts of Hamas leaders. Many of those killed were key to maintaining Hamas’ control over Gaza’s population, beyond just its militant operations. This signals Israel’s determination to dismantle both the group’s political and military grip on the territory.
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened last week to annex parts of the Gaza Strip if Hamas continues to refuse to release the 59 hostages held by the terror group.
“I have instructed the IDF to seize additional areas in Gaza, evacuate the population, and expand security zones around Gaza to protect Israeli communities and IDF soldiers,” Katz said, according to The Jerusalem Post. “The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel.”
In addition to air strikes, IDF troops have begun ground activities in central and southern Gaza to create a buffer zone between the north and south of the strip.
On the first night of air strikes, Israel killed four senior Hamas officials including Essam al-Da’alis, Hamas’s political Gazan prime minister; Mahmoud Marzouk Ahmed Abu-Watfa, the Minister of Internal Affairs; Bahajat Hassan Mohammed Abu Sultan, Head of Hamas’ Internal Security Forces; and Ahmed Amar Abdullah Alhata, Hamas Minister of Justice.
Al-Da’alis was acting as a defacto prime minister and replaced Rawhi Mushtaha who was eliminated by Israel in July 2024. He was responsible for the integration of all Hamas’ branches and their uses for terrorist purposes. He also served as the key point of contact with senior Hamas terrorists outside of the strip, according to the IDF.
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