The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that over 100 gunmen have been killed in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in the past few days. The operations, led by the IDF’s 162nd Division, also reportedly uncovered and destroyed key Hamas infrastructure, including weapons caches and rocket launchers.
IDF Brigadier General Itzik Cohen, who oversees the offensive in Rafah, stated that the Hamas Rafah Brigade has been severely weakened, with over 2,300 operatives killed and more than 13 kilometers (8 miles) of tunnels destroyed.
The IDF has located and neutralized over 200 interconnected tunnels in Rafah. Combat engineers are currently finishing investigations into a few remaining tunnels, which are expected to be destroyed in the coming weeks. Among the tunnels found, nine extended into Egypt but were blocked either by Egyptian forces or Hamas prior to the IDF’s arrival. The tunnels have long been a part of Hamas’s smuggling routes, but recent IDF assessments indicate that Hamas now relies more on local production of weapons, including rockets and explosives.
In northern Gaza, IDF officials reported that Hamas’s tunnel networks there were used for senior leadership, whereas in Rafah, all tunnels were interconnected, forming a vast underground city. One key tunnel complex, 40 meters deep, was used by Hamas’s Rafah Brigade commander, Muhammad Shabana.
A video from the tunnels where six of the Israeli (and one American-Israeli) hostages were held in inhumane conditions and executed by Hamas with point-blank gunshots to the head.
Hamas kidnapped our brothers and sisters on October 7, 2023, and we must…
— Ella Travels (Ella Kenan) (@EllaTravelsLove) September 10, 2024
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