IDF Quietly Transitions to Phase 3 in the War Against Hamas

Stand for Israel  |  January 12, 2024

After making advancements in northern Gaza, now the soldiers are focused on a new phase of war in central and southern Gaza, reports Yaakov Lappin writing at JNS:

Without fanfare, the Israel Defense Forces is transitioning from phase 2 in the war against Hamas—the high-intensity stage of surging ground forces throughout Gaza—to phase 3, involving far more targeted operations, with a focus on the south of the Strip.

The decision to do so is based primarily on the IDF’s assessment that it has succeeded in dismantling Hamas’s organized military structures in northern Gaza and in Hamas’s former heartland of Gaza City, leaving disorganized terror cells that have fallen back on independent guerrilla warfare tactics.

“While there are still terrorists and weapons in the north, they are no longer functioning within an organized military framework, IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Jan. 6. “We are now operating differently in that area, with a different mix of forces, to deepen our achievements. We are currently focusing on the central Gaza Strip, in the area of the central camps, and in the southern Gaza Strip, in the area of Khan Yunis.