Tel Aviv [Israel] : Hamas had lost control in the Gaza Strip as the Israel Defence Forces moved to fully capture Gaza City, the country’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said as the Israel-Hamas war entered day 39.
According to The Times of Israel, Gallant said that the Israeli forces are advancing towards every location and the terrorists are fleeing south.
“There is no force of Hamas capable of stopping the IDF. The IDF is advancing at every location. The Hamas organisation has lost control in Gaza. Terrorists are fleeing south, and civilians are looting Hamas bases. They have no confidence in the government,” Gallant said, according to The Times of Israel.
The army stated on Monday night that Hamas agents had been holed up in the children’s Rantisi hospital in Gaza City during a raid. It claimed to have proof that captives were being kept there.
“Underneath the hospital, in the basement, we found a Hamas command and control centre, suicide-bomb vests, grenades, AK-47 assault rifles, explosive devices, RPGs, and other weapons, computers, money, etc.” Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said this in an English-language press conference.
The military released a video of the incident and claimed to have killed a gang of gunmen who had opened fire on soldiers from a different hospital in Gaza City.
It gave information about its attempts over the previous few weeks to remove field commanders and impede the terror group’s activities in the Gaza Strip, and it declared that it had killed several Hamas commanders in airstrikes during the course of the previous day.
Members of a terror cell that fired at Israeli forces from Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City on Monday were killed by the Israeli troops.
The IDF said that the hospital cell was “embedded within a group of civilians at the entrance” when it started fire on soldiers from the 188th Armoured Brigade, using light weapons and RPGs.
Israel further added by saying that Hamas has command centres under hospitals in Gaza and is using civilians, including patients, as human shields there as the Gaza conflict continues.
With air support, IDF troops returned fire at the Hamas operatives, killing 21 of them, according to The Times of Israel.
No troops were hurt, but one tank was damaged by an RPG, the Israel Defence Forces added.
The conflict in Gaza escalated after the October 7 attack by Hamas, where about 2,500 terrorists breached the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, leading to casualties and the seizure of hostages.
Israel has characterised its Gaza offensive as targeting Hamas’ infrastructure with the goal of eliminating the entire terror group while making efforts to minimize civilian casualties.