IDF appears to be shifting tactics in Jabaliya - 1,000 terrorists killed, most civilians evacuated as it isolates northern Gaza

The IDF operation in Jabaliya continues. Israeli forces have practically severed the northern Gaza Strip from the southern half, and reports among Palestinians describe the collapse and destruction of Jabaliya. 

Most of the civilian population was evacuated from Jabaliya over the past three weeks, and as of Tuesday, the military estimates that only a few hundred civilians remain in the neighborhood. 

The majority of buildings have been partially destroyed, and some have collapsed completely. During the past month, the forces have worked to isolate the Hamas terrorists inside Jabaliya from the rest of the Strip, while also restricting their ability to flee northward. 

By isolating Gaza City from the northern part of the Strip, the terrorists are unable to escape without encountering Israeli forces. At the same time, in order to protect civilians, the military opened up evacuation corridors for civilians fleeing southward. 

Approximately 55,000 civilians were evacuated from Jabaliya with IDF assistance, after they were unable to leave their homes. Israel says there is evidence that Hamas targeted civilians seeking to flee, executed some, and worked to prevent them from moving south. 

At the same time, Israeli troops have been relentlessly seeking out and destroying Hamas fighters in the ruined city. Around 700 terrorists surrendered and were taken for interrogation by the security forces over the past month. The IDF also says that about 1,000 terrorists were eliminated in the Jabaliya operation. Military leaders believe that Hamas is on the verge of collapsing in Jabaliya. 

A key difference in the Jabaliya operation from previous operations, is the extensive effort to evacuate the civilian population. Doing so allowed the IDF greater freedom of action. While the fighting in Jabaliya appears to be winding down, the military does not intend to allow civilians to return to the evacuated areas. 

“There is no humanitarian aid reaching the besieged area,” an IDF official told Ynet news. “Jabaliya is collapsing, and we are neutralizing the remaining hundreds of terrorists. The enemy is on the run and resorting to guerrilla tactics to strike at us.” 

While the IDF has publicly disavowed the so-called “Generals’ Plan” (also known as the Eiland Plan, after General Giora Eiland, in practice, it appears to be carrying out the plan on a limited basis, removing the civilian population from the area in order to completely cleanse the area, above and below ground. 

The IDF reported that Hamas had significantly booby-trapped roads and planted IEDs in houses in Jabaliya, which made the IDF's work difficult. Just in this operation, 19 soldiers have been killed, including the commander of the 401st Brigade operating in the city, Colonel Ihsan Dakseh. However, the IDF has learned from the deaths, developing methods of operation reduce casualties. 

The multidimensional “Ghost Unit” which focuses on developing new strategies for the IDF, has developed several techniques for using smaller drones to take out terrorists using simple dropped fragmentation grenades, instead of firing missiles from larger, heavier Hermes 450 drones. 

The soldiers call this the Iron Ball, and said the technique is also being replicated in Lebanon. 

Maj. Elad, the Givati brigade's operations officer, told Israel Hayom, “The Jabaliya area is the anchor that holds the northern Gaza Brigade together, and we are determined to carry out the mission and destroy the enemy.” 

“Our goal is to apply heavy military pressure to destroy the enemy so that he understands that the game is over.” 

Major Hiya, a company commander in the Kfir Brigade told Channel 7, “What sits on our minds when we enter is to bring our hostage home and the IDF forces, both regular and reserve, will do whatever is necessary for this.” 

“There are still encounters with enemies, they put IEDs on roads that we travel on every day, there are anti-tank ambushes,” he said. “We are destroying a lot of terrorists, over 600 terrorists have been eliminated in just the past two or three weeks. Every day we are finding more and more terrorists, we are catching them, extracting very valuable intelligence from them, both in terms of prisoners and missing persons and in terms of reducing the damage to our forces in the continuation of the maneuver.” 

Speaking of the length of the operation, which has still not finished, Hiya said, "It seems long, it seems tedious, but it is very clear to the forces on the ground that we will do everything possible to bring the hostages home, to destroy Hamas, so that this will not happen again.”