Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant briefed reporters on Thursday during a visit to the Hamas stronghold of Khan Younis, located in southern Gaza.
Gallant described the IDF as having significant momentum, having killed more than 10,000 Hamas fighters and seriously wounding another 10,000 terrorists.
In addition, the IDF has captured hundreds of Hamas operatives.
All told, the defense minister argues that Israel has effectively neutralized 20,000 – approximately two-thirds – of Hamas’ entire fighting force, estimated to be around 30,000.
What’s more, Israeli military intelligence believes that Hamas is running low on ammunition and rockets.
Gallant believes the IDF will soon fully control Khan Younis, which will allow it to then focus on Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip on the Egyptian border.
“Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade boasted that it would stand against the IDF,” Gallant noted, but said that instead the brigade is being “dismantled.”
“I am telling you here, we are completing the mission in Khan Younis and we will also reach Rafah and eliminate everyone there who is a terrorist who is trying to harm us,” Gallant told Israeli soldiers, according to the Times of Israel.
Gallant called IDF gains in Khan Younis “very impressive.”
“They don’t have ammunition, they don’t have the ability to treat the wounded,” the defense minister said of Hamas.
“They have 10,000 dead terrorists and another 10,000 wounded who are not functioning.”
“It’s a blow that is eroding their ability [to fight], but you have to reach all the places,” he added.
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