Since the end of the truce in Gaza on December 1, the Israeli army has been conducting two frontline operations in the enclave, with an intensity unmatched over two months of open warfare. On Thursday, December 7, ground troops entered the southern town of Khan Yunis, home to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. At the same time, soldiers continued to conquer Gaza City in the north, deployed in the historic center and eastern half of the city, which had previously eluded them.
On Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that soldiers approached a house in Khan Yunis belonging to Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in the enclave. He was not there. Israeli troops were unable to locate him, like all the movement's other main leaders. It's a failure of intelligence, the limits of which this conflict has constantly revealed since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Netanyahu claimed that Sinwar "can escape, but it's only a matter of time before we get him."
During the truce that saw the release of a third of the 240 or so Israeli hostages in Gaza, the United States has called on its Israeli ally to change its ways. Washington asked the IDF to facilitate the delivery of petrol and humanitarian aid to restore access to water and vital services for civilians and to allow them to move to safe areas during its operations. The US has urged Israel not to aggravate a chaotic exodus – almost 1.9 million displaced out of a population of 2.3 million – which could provoke a flight of Gazans toward the Egyptian border.
For the time being, however, there is nothing to distinguish the advance of Israeli troops into Khan Yunis from the largely accomplished destruction of Gaza City. The infantry and tanks of the 98th division have led this penetration into the eastern districts and the center. They advanced only after intense bombardment, despite the number of Palestinian civilians who remained in these neighborhoods. Hamas had no means of preventing their advance: the group was content to ambush snipers and small units with anti-tank missiles.
As of December 7, 88 Israeli soldiers had been killed in Gaza. The army's priority is to keep its men out of reach of Hamas to preserve Israeli public support for its operation. These troops have been tasked with occupying the terrain and "cleaning out" Hamas tunnels, which remain largely untouched. Israel no longer disputes the colossal human cost of this method to Palestinians. However, Israel claims that a third of the more than 16,000 deaths recorded by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza are the result of armed militants.
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