Israel regains "operational control" of northern Gaza after a "selective raid"

The Israeli Military revealed on Thursday that it successfully completed a two-week long “targeted incursion” into the northern portion of the Gaza Strip, effectively regaining “operational control” over the area that had experienced heightened clashes with militants from the Islamist group Hamas.

With assistance from naval and artillery support, as well as strategic bombardment, Israeli soldiers and special forces advanced from the Al Shati region, swiftly crossing Gaza City in less than two hours to establish control. An army spokesperson noted that this development signifies the weakened state of Hamas in the northern region of the enclave.

The spokesperson emphasized that this operation represents “a novel approach to offensive operations against terrorism,” as soldiers meticulously dismantled terrorist infrastructure, seized intelligence materials, confiscated weapons, and eliminated terrorists.

Furthermore, they successfully located and destroyed an underground tunnel housing Hamas intelligence elements beneath the UNRWA headquarters, which is the United Nations Refugee Agency for Palestine, the spokesperson added.

In a separate operation carried out on Wednesday, the Israeli air forces executed Ahmed Ghul, “a commander of the Al Shati Battalion within Hamas, who played a role in the October 7 massacre” and was responsible for holding an Israeli soldier captive, who was eventually killed.

The Israeli Army initiated its ground offensive in the Strip at the end of October, starting from the northern area of the enclave and had already gained nearly complete control over that region. However, in recent weeks, the fighting has escalated with militants who arrived from the south, where Israeli forces have also made incursions by land.

Simultaneously on Thursday, the Israeli Army made a forceful entry into the Naser Hospital in Khan Yunis, the largest medical facility in the southern part of the enclave, after a 25-day-long siege. They claimed to possess “credible information” suggesting that Hamas held some Israeli hostages within the hospital and that there could be bodies of abducted individuals present there.