Defense minister says Hamas northern battalions near collapse, with many surrenderingThe Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday
The IDF and Shin Bet say forces have arrested more than 500 terror operatives in the Gaza Strip in the last month. They have been taken for questioning by the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 and the security agency.
According to the joint statement, more than 140 of the operatives were arrested since the ceasefire ended on December 1.
“The operatives were detained during battles in recent days by IDF troops. Some of them voluntarily surrendered and were taken by the field interrogators… for further investigation,” the IDF says.
The IDF says some of the operatives were arrested while hiding in civilian buildings, including schools and shelters for civilians.
It says that of the 500 operatives detained in the last month, some 350 of them are members of Hamas, and another 120 are members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The IDF says it struck a cell in southern Lebanon that had fired rockets at the Shtula area in northern Israel, as well as a launcher used to fire projectiles at the Yiftah area earlier.
One mortar was also fired at Shtula a short while ago, landing in an open area.
The IDF publishes footage of the strikes.
Gallant: War against Hamas will end when Israel obtains its goals
Defense Minister Gallant vows that the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip will end once Israel has obtained its goals, despite apparent international pressure to wrap up the operation soon.
“The war will end when its goals are achieved. I take into consideration everything the US asks and says, and take seriously, along with all the members of the cabinet, what America is doing,” Gallant says in response to a question.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Hamas’s Jabaliya and Shejaiya battalions in the northern Gaza Strip are “on the verge of being dismantled.”
“We have encircled the last strongholds of Hamas in Jabaliya and Shejaiya, the battalions that were considered invincible, that prepared for years to fight us, are on the verge of being dismantled,” Gallant says at a press conference.
He says hundreds of Hamas operatives have surrendered to Israeli troops in recent days, which he says “shows what is happening” to the terror group.
“Whoever surrenders — his life is spared,” Gallant says, adding that among those who have been arrested by the IDF are terrorists who participated in the October 7 terror attack on Israeli communities.
“They are telling us very interesting things,” he adds, apparently alluding to intelligence gleaned from those prisoners.
Gallant also threatens Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, saying his fate and that of “any other senior commander in Hamas, and the fate of the [low-ranking] terrorist is the same: surrender or die. There is no third option.”
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