Troops of the Kiryati Brigade, operating in the Khan Yunis area, raided a weapons manufacturing plant and concrete factory used by Hamas to build tunnels, the IDF says.
The complex was later destroyed by combat engineers. The IDF says “the reserve brigade has destroyed more than 100 Hamas sites in the Khan Yunis area in recent weeks, killing dozens of operatives in the process. It says the troops are establishing operational control over the main routes in the Khan Yunis area.”
While the IDF has continued to make gains in Gaza, the IDF leadership and government has come under increasing criticism due to the high casualty rate among IDF soldiers. Most instances have come from soldiers being told to enter booby trapped buildings despite forewarned knowledge of traps laid by Gazans.
Despite Netanyahu’s assurances that the Biden administration has not pressured Israel to change its tactics, it is clear that the tactics have changed since the pause in fighting connected to the hostage release ended a few weeks ago.
Reports that IDF soldiers have resulted in destroying buildings with RPG units if the air force has been kept from bombing have come to light. The debate on how the IDF leadership is running the war has even reached the cabinet. Economy Minister Nir Barkat accused Benny Gantz of being trapped by a failed strategy: “It is precisely from him that I would expect to learn modesty and listen to constructive criticism and understand that the lives of our soldiers are more important than the lives of the Gazans.”
Despite the calls for unity from President Herzog, there is a real concern that between the foreign funded Kaplan Brigades commandeered by Ehud Barak on the Left and the members of the government on the right, the coalition may crumble even as the war continues.
If this happens, expect an unlikely leadership to arise – after all, most Israelis support the transfer of Gazan Arabs far away from the Land of Israel.