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Israeli forces are seeking to uncover Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure in Jabaliya in northern Gaza while also trying to cut off the group in other areas. The current challenges facing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza come as Israel focuses on fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, deals with increasing threats from drone attacks from Iraq and other fronts, and manages rising tensions with Iran. The IDF has been fighting in Jabaliya for 10 days as part of this latest operation.
The IDF’s 162nd Division arrived near Jabaliya at night between October 5 and 6. The area is large and sprawls over a mile of rolling hills northeast of Gaza City and east of Rimal and Shati, the latter of which is on the beach. Jabaliya includes a neighborhood and large urban area based around a refugee camp established in 1948. It has long been a center of political and terrorist activity. While some people fled this area in the first months of fighting, the civilian population and Hamas have returned several times. The IDF operated in portions of Jabaliya between December and January and again in May 2024.
The 162nd Division’s 401st Armored Brigade operated around Shati in the first days of the ground offensive in Gaza in late October 2023. It’s now returned to northern Gaza after being deployed in southern Gaza’s Rafah for months. “Troops of the 401st Brigade conducted targeted raids on dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites in the area, eliminated dozens of terrorists, and confiscated numerous weapons. Additionally, a number of tunnel shafts were located and destroyed,” the IDF said on October 15.
The Israeli military also said it identified a regional United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) clinic that had been “taken over by terrorists and turned into a weapons storage facility and a hideout for terrorists in the area.” The IDF said troops were fired at from the clinic and returned fire, killing the attackers. “Following the elimination of the terrorists, numerous secondary explosions were observed, indicating a hidden weapons stockpile,” the IDF said.
Photos the IDF distributed showed rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) rounds, an RPG launcher, and explosives. Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza have increasingly turned to the use of explosives and booby traps against the IDF as their stockpiles of munitions have reduced throughout a year of fighting.
The battles in Jabaliya also led to a focus on humanitarian issues in Gaza. Reports on October 15 said the White House pressured Israel to improve the situation in Gaza. Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories: Judea and Samaria and towards the Gaza Strip (COGAT), which coordinates aid, said on October 14 that 30 trucks with supplies entered Gaza via the Erez West Crossing. This crossing opened in May 2024 in the wake of previous concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“Israel is not preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, with an emphasis on food, into Gaza. In the last two weeks, the IDF has been conducting a ground operation in northern Gaza to destroy Hamas terrorist infrastructure, which just this week launched rockets from northern Gaza towards civilian populations in Israel,” COGAT said on October 14. In addition, the IDF said it had transferred 33 patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza to “other functioning hospitals in Gaza.”
Jabaliya is a key access point to other portions of northern Gaza. For instance, the road through this area connects Gaza City with both Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya. These areas, both of which have been used by Hamas in the past to launch rockets and construct tunnels, are close to the Israeli communities of Sderot and Erez, respectively. Hamas also attacked Israel from all these locations on October 7.
The battles in Jabaliya form part of a larger effort by the IDF to continue striking at Hamas in Gaza. These operations occur against the backdrop of Israel focusing on the war against Hezbollah in the north, and most fighting in Gaza is low intensity. The IDF has called on civilians to leave areas in northern Gaza and head toward Mawasi, a southern humanitarian zone.
In other operations in Gaza, the Israeli Air Force struck Samer Abu Daqqa, a Hamas terrorist who the IDF said was the head of the group’s “aerial unit.” He had replaced a previous commander of the same unit who was killed. “Samer Abu Daqqa was responsible for carrying out numerous terror attacks, including launching drones and UAVs towards Israeli territory and IDF troops,” the IDF said. Hamas has increased its use of small drones over the last several years. However, it does not appear to have used many unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the recent conflict.
The IDF also carried out an airstrike in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The strike targeted what Israel said was a “command and control center, which was embedded inside a compound that previously served as the ‘Shuhadah Al-Aqsa’ hospital.” The US criticized Israel in the aftermath of the strike after images appeared to show a person burning to death in the aftermath. “Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said.
The IDF has said repeatedly in recent months that it has found Hamas command-and-control centers in former schools. In addition, on October 10, the IDF identified a Hamas command and control “embedded within an area that previously served as a medical compound in Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip.”
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