Day 80: IDF intensifies operations in central and southern Gaza despite rise in soldier deaths

After heavy fighting over the weekend claimed the lives of 14 IDF soldiers, Israel announced on Monday that its combined forces will continue to conduct joint combat throughout the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli Defense Forces said on Sunday evening that 14 soldiers were killed in heavy fighting over the weekend in central and south Gaza. Ten of the troops were killed on Saturday. 

On Monday morning, the IDF announced the death of two additional soldiers in fighting on Sunday evening. The number of soldiers killed since the ground operation in Gaza began now stands at 158. 

On Monday morning, Gaza Health Ministry officials said that over 100 people had been killed in Israeli strikes in Deir al-Balah and the refugee camps of al-Maghazi, al-Bureij and Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. The IDF said it was investigating the claims but also highlighted significant “challenges posed by Hamas terrorists operating in civilian areas in Gaza.” 

The Israeli military affirmed that it “is bound by international law and takes steps to minimize harm to civilians.”  

Israel announced the elimination of another Hamas commander on Monday morning, during combined operations in the Khan Younis neighborhood of southern Gaza. The IDF estimates that it has killed about 8,000 Hamas terrorists since the beginning of the war. 

Soldiers also found a large cache of weapons in Beit Lahia, including many Kalashnikov rifles, improved explosive devices (IEDs), and magazines with ammunition. 

The IDF has encountered increasing resistance from Hamas as it operates in Khan Younis and the southern Gaza Strip, where many Hamas leaders are believed to be hiding. Some defense officials have said the IDF will have to begin operating in the Philadelphia corridor near the Rafah border crossing, as there is a growing suspicion that Hamas leaders may try to flee into Egypt through tunnels under the Rafah border crossing. 

On Sunday, Israel announced the destruction of a large tunnel system in the northern Gaza Strip in Jabaliya. The IDF found the bodies of five Israeli hostages in the tunnel network earlier this month. 

Three of the bodies belonged to IDF soldiers and two were civilians. The bodies were found in two different areas of the tunnel network. 

Soldiers from the Yahalom combat engineering unit were involved in mapping and destroying the tunnel system, which spread over an area of around one square kilometer. The tunnel system contained two different levels and connected a school, a hospital, and the home of the former commander of the northern Gaza brigade, Ahmed Ghandour, who was killed earlier in the war. 

Soldiers also found detention rooms, weapons manufacturing equipment and military headquarters within the tunnels. 

The IDF is reportedly surprised at the amount of military infrastructure it is finding in southern Gaza, both in terror tunnels and within civilian buildings. The findings indicate that Hamas has been preparing for the conflict for some time. 

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the IDF anticipates fighting in the Gaza Strip could last several more months and believes that Hamas leadership and the remaining hostages are in the tunnel system in the southern Gaza Strip, which is more extensive than in the northern Gaza Strip.