On Wednesday evening, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari announced that the military has initiated operations against terror operatives in Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods. These areas, particularly Tuffah, house one of the last remaining battalions of Hamas in northern Gaza. This development suggests that the military is approaching the conclusion of its ground offensive in the northern part of the Strip.
Hagari stated in a press conference, held almost two months since the IDF commenced its ground offensive against Hamas, that “We have moved to fighting in Daraj-Tuffah. Daraj-Tuffah is adjacent to Shejaiya, and it completes [our operations] in Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun, Shejaiya, and Daraj-Tuffah.” The IDF claims operational control over Beit Hanoun, Jabaliya, and other northern Gaza areas as it strives to dismantle Hamas’s battalions. The military also anticipates completing operations in Shejaiya, a location of intense fighting, in the coming days. IDF Spokesman Rear
On Thursday morning, the IDF reported conducting airstrikes against approximately 230 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip within the past day. Despite indications from the army that operations in northern Gaza were concluding, intense fighting persisted in that region.
In Jabaliya, a neighborhood in Gaza City, troops from the 551st Brigade evacuated a school where civilians had sought shelter. During the clearance, the army uncovered several weapons belonging to Hamas operatives inside the school.
The IDF also said that in the Shati camp on the northern Gaza coast, the 14th Brigade spotted a group of Hamas operatives and called in an airstrike.
The strike in Shati comes weeks after the IDF said it had full control of the area, indicating the military is still battling smaller Hamas cells.
The IDF is still expected to remain in northern Gaza for a long period after the main offensive, to continue dismantling Hamas’s infrastructure, including the terror group’s tunnels and caches of weapons.