Two soldiers, one of them a combat officer from the 614th Battalion of the Combat Engineering Corps, were seriously wounded in a battle in the northern Gaza Strip after encountering terrorists at close range. Additionally, a fighter from the Yahalom unit of the Combat Engineering Corps was seriously wounded in a battle in the southern Gaza Strip.
The military said on Wednesday that it now had full operational control of the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. This effectively clamps down on any possible weapons flow to Hamas from the outside. Troops located 20 tunnels crossing into Egypt near the Philadelphi Corridor and 82 tunnel shafts. This information was passed on to Egypt. Egypt’s Al Qahera News denied the reports.
“It doesn’t mean that we have boots on the ground across all of the corridors, but it means we can control and we have the ability to cut off the oxygen line that Hamas has used for replenishing and movement in and around that area,” a military official said.
The IDF said Wednesday night that, over the past few weeks, troops found a tunnel shaft located 100 m. from the Rafah Crossing, one-and-a-half km. Long and containing several blast doors. It led to an underground tunnel route used by Hamas. Troops found a large cache of weapons, including short-range and ant-tank missiles, AK-47s, explosives, and grenades. The military said the tunnel included a hideout, toilets, and rooms. All were destroyed.
IDF chief spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari noted, “Our intelligence has not indicated so far that hostages have been transferred through these tunnels” that border with Egypt. He added that “there is wide-scale Egyptian defense on the border, as well as on Cairo’s interests. We update them on every tunnel we find. Every shaft that is located, we will deal with it.”
Dismantling Hamas
Israel has said since the beginning that its goal is to dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities. The IDF has maintained that the last intact Hamas battalions are in Rafah, prompting its limited operation there.
IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, speaking to troops in Rafah on Wednesday, said, “This is the last brigade that remains with full capabilities, and therefore, we want to dismantle the Rafah Brigade. But we will deepen the achievement and bring Hamas to very low points. This requires a lot of professionalism, a lot of determination, a lot of values, knowing that completely dismantling Hamas is a national mission of Israel.”
Rafah residents said Israeli tanks had pushed into Tel Al-Sultan in the west and Yibna and near Shaboura in the center before retreating towards a buffer zone on the border with Egypt rather than staying put as they have in other offensives.
“We received distress calls from residents in Tel Al-Sultan, where drones targeted displaced citizens as they moved from areas where they were staying toward the safe areas,” said Haitham al Hams, the deputy director of ambulance and emergency services in Rafah.
Palestinian health officials said 19 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes and shelling across Gaza. These officials do not differentiate between terrorists and civilians, and Israel has long maintained that Hamas fighters hide in plain sight in civilian areas. Gazan health authorities are inseparable from Hamas and cannot be verified by a third party.
Officials further said that several people were wounded by Israeli fire and that stores containing aid were set ablaze in eastern Rafah.
Health Minister Majed Abu Raman urged Washington to pressure Israel to open the Rafah crossing to aid, saying there was no indication that Israeli authorities would do so soon and that patients were dying for lack of treatment.