Jerusalem [Israel], November 8: Israel's military is starting the next phase of its war against Hamas, targeting the Islamist group's labyrinth of tunnels and command structures in northern Gaza in an operation that may take months to complete, security sources said.
Israeli forces have pounded Gaza from the air and used ground troops to divide the coastal enclave into two, in an offensive launched after Hamas gunmen killed 1,400 people and took some 240 hostages in a cross-border attack on Oct. 7. In recent days, Israeli troops have surrounded Gaza City and battled Hamas fighters as they pushed deeper into its streets.
With casualties in Gaza topping 10,000, according to Palestinian health officials, Israel has come under mounting diplomatic pressure for a humanitarian ceasefire.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant approved on Monday further operational plans for military action in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have declined to comment on the details.
Five Israeli security sources told Reuters that locating and disabling the vast tunnel network running beneath swathes of northern Gaza would be a fundamental part of the next phase of the offensive, which would take time.
With Israeli tanks advancing towards the heart of Gaza City, they have faced heavy resistance from Hamas fighters using the tunnel network to launch ambushes, two sources with Hamas and separate militant group Islamic Jihad said.
A fighter appears from one tunnel shaft, fires a rocket propelled grenade and then disappears, only to appear at another tunnel entrance and attack again, the Palestinian sources said.
Chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that Israel's combat engineering corps were using explosive devices to destroy the tunnels and operations had destroyed more than 100 shafts.
AviMelamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and a negotiator during the first and second intifadas that took place in the late 1980s and early 2000s, said IDF troops were working through a structured plan to locate tunnels, destroy rocket launching sites, and kill Hamas commanders and fighters.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation