The Israeli military has surrounded the home of Hamas’ top leader in Gaza as Palestinians are warned to flee the southern half of the enclave, officials said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the IDF is approaching the home of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the town of Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza where hundreds of thousands have fled since that the war started.
“His home is not his fortress and he can escape, but it’s only a matter of time before we catch him.” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Our forces can reach anywhere in the Gaza Strip.”
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari noted that there is “infrastructure and terrorist headquarters” in Sinwar’s home, and that the Hamas leader is likely hiding underground through the 300-mile-long tunnel system. of the group.
“Our role is to get to Sinwar and kill him,” Hagari said of the IDF advance on Khan Younis.
The home of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been surrounded by the IDF. AP Israel’s military has vowed to eliminate the Hamas leadership in Gaza as shelling intensifies on southern cities, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled. AFP via Getty Images
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This is not the first time Netanyahu and the IDF have claimed that Sinwar, the man believed to have orchestrated the Oct. 7 massacre, is trapped by advancing soldiers.
Last month, the Israeli military claimed it had surrounded Sinwar while he was isolated inside an underground bunker in Gaza City.
The search for Sinwar in Gaza’s second-largest city comes as leaflets warning Palestinians to flee the south were dropped from the sky, similar to those dropped amid the invasion in the north during the first phase of the war.
The conflict that consumed the north displaced 1.8 million Palestinians, around 80% of Gaza’s population, and the international group Human Rights Watch condemned the latest wave of leaflets.
An injured man is rushed to safety after an airstrike in Rafah. AFP via Getty Images There are destroyed buildings in Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza. ZUMAPRESS.com
“No military force in any conflict can simply make an announcement and then bomb an area without regard for the civilians there, no matter how many warnings it gives or in what form,” said Andrew Stroehlein, HRW’s Europe and media editorial director. .
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He added that due to communication blackouts in Gaza, many Palestinians will likely miss the additional warnings being sent through phone calls and social media posts.
The leaflets dropped on Khan Younis, specifically, included a verse from the Koran that appeared to reference the same language Hamas used when describing the October 7 terrorist attack that killed more than 1,200 people, CNN reports.
“The flood overtook them, while they persisted in doing evil,” the pamphlets said in Arabic, quoting a verse from the story of Noah.
Israel and Hamas are fighting fierce clashes in and around Khan Younis, with the terrorist group claiming to have destroyed at least 23 IDF vehicles in southern Khan Younis and northern Beit Lahiya.
Meanwhile, Hagari said IDF soldiers were fighting for the first time “in the heart” of Khan Younis, a day after Israel claimed it had killed half of the commanders of Hamas’s 24 battalion units since that the war began on October 7.
A child is being treated at Nasser Medical Hospital following an airstrike on Wednesday. Getty Images As fighting in Gaza intensifies, Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel. AFP via Getty Images
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Hamdi Tanira, a resident of Khan Younis, said he and 30 other people barely escaped an explosion from an Israeli airstrike that hit their neighborhood.
“I swear we don’t even know how we made it out alive,” he said, noting that 20 sleeping children were among those who made it out in time.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn