As Israel prepares for intensification of Gaza operations, IDF employs new tool against Hamas - fire

With hostage negotiations showing no signs of progress, Israel is planning to escalate fighting in the Gaza Strip, an anonymous official told Israel Hayom earlier this week. 

The expansion in military operations will include the mobilization of large numbers of reserve fighters, the official stated. 

The negotiations between Israel and Hamas, currently being conducted primarily through Egyptian efforts, have so far not led to a significant breakthrough. At the same time, fighting in the Gaza Strip has slowly intensified, with more frequent confrontations with Hamas terrorists, even leading to recent casualties in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). 

Walla reported that a number of reserve brigades in the IDF have received advance warning of reactivation for fighting in Gaza. It is believed that the brigades will be used primarily to protect the border communities, secure the corridors, and guard the recently created buffer zones. 

However, the mobilization is also being carried out ahead of increased ground operations in the enclave. The intensified ground maneuvers are part of a plan by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir to increase pressure on Hamas to return the hostages and topple the Hamas regime through a combination of military action and the encouragement of protests by Palestinian residents of Gaza. 

Arab news site Asharq al-Awsat, which is associated with the Saudi royal family, reported on Monday evening that Israel had killed two Hamas officials working in Hamas’ financial services, who helped transfer money to Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. 

Sources in the Gaza Strip told Asharq Al-Awsat that "in the last five days, Israel has carried out two assassinations of two people working to provide money to Hamas and its military wing through money transfers.” 

The sources suggested that the killing of the two officials would increase Hamas' difficult financial situation. They said that Hamas has not been able to pay the salaries of its government employees for about three months, and has only been able to pay one salary to Qassam operatives in the same period. 

While the IDF has yet to confirm the killing of the two individuals, it did release a statement on Tuesday morning announcing the deaths of three Hamas terrorists, including some who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. 

“Last Thursday, in Gaza City, the IDF and ISA [Shin Bet] eliminated Ali Naddal Husni Sarfiti, a terrorist in the Palestinian Popular Front terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF statement said. 

The IDF said that Sarfiti “operated in recent years to carry out terrorist attacks in Israeli territory” as well as working to transfer funds to terror groups in Judea and Samaria. 

Additionally, in other strikes in Gaza, the IDF eliminated Saʿid Abu Hasnan, a Hamas Nukbha terrorist in the Deir Al Balah Brigade who infiltrated and took part in the massacre in Kissufim on Oct. 7, and Mustafa al-Mutawwak, an operations officer in Hamas' Jabaliya Brigade. 

“The IDF and ISA will continue to operate against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to remove the threat to Israeli civilians,” the military said. 

Following clashes in the Gaza Strip last week, the IDF has begun an operation to clear thousands of dunams of overgrown fields near the border, which could be used by Hamas operatives to carry out attacks. 

Hamas had recently published several videos of its operatives emerging from tunnel shafts in the overgrown fields and ambushing IDF troops. Following the attacks, the Israeli military decided to handle the threat by clearing the fields with fire. 

Over recent days, the military began burning the fields in order to expose hidden tunnel shafts and IEDs in the area. During the operation, several tunnel shafts were located, one of which contained various weapons and even intelligence materials. 

An IDF source told Channel 12, “Clearing the area allows us to see the terrorists and the enemy's weapons in a much better way, using drones and other good means.”