In weekend fighting, the IDF killed 150 Hamas terrorists in one extended battle in Gaza, along with additional senior Hamas figures, and captured key Hamas positions.
By Friday night, the IDF announced that the 401st Brigade had destroyed Outpost “Badr” of Hamas’s Shati Battalion, killing 150 terrorists in the stronghold.
However, six soldiers were killed in other fighting in the Gaza Strip, the IDF announced. Four were in the 551st Brigade – Maj. (res.) Moshe Yedidya Leiter; Warr. Ofc. (res.) Yossi Hershkovitz; St.-Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Matan Meir; and St.-Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Sergey Shmerkin.
The other two soldiers killed over the weekend were St.-Sgt.-Maj. (res.). Netanel “Nati” Harush of the Givati Brigade and Yehonatan Samo.
In the attack on Hamas’s Shati Battalion, The Jerusalem Post has learned that the mix of integrated attacks from air force, tank, and artillery units led to the remarkably one-sided result regarding the main outpost of the Shati Battalion located near a refugee camp and civilian buildings.
1,500 Hamas killed in the first week
Though the IDF has said it has killed thousands of Hamas gunmen including 1,500 in the first week of the war, this was the largest single number the IDF has announced for any single battle in Gaza.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s combined forces are estimated at between 15,000-50,000.
IDF sources have not claimed that they are anywhere close to killing or arresting a majority of Gazan terror forces, suggesting the IDF will still need to intensify its activity still more to topple Hamas’s broader military apparatus.
Some have said Hamas will not fall before its Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, and its military leader Mohammed Deif, are killed or arrested.
As part of the weekend raid on the large outpost, the forces of the 401st Brigade destroyed various military headquarters and launch positions. Before it was destroyed, the outpost had been the last remaining outpost on the Shati border.
The IDF also found and destroyed a site for the production of munitions, launch stations, and an underground network.
The division operated at the “Blue Beach” hotel located on the northern coast of the Strip.
About 30 Hamas terrorists barricaded themselves in this hotel and fired several anti-tank missiles at IDF forces. After the takeover, it was found that they had used the hotel rooms as a protective shelter and to plan attacks above and below ground.
The battle over this large military position contributed to the IDF’s success in seizing control of 11 large military positions held by Hamas since the conflict began, the IDF said Saturday morning.
The military said that ground troops had struck terrorists, infrastructure, and weapons specifically belonging to Hamas’s Zabra Tel Elhua Battalion.
These activities were a part of the joint intelligence effort of the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to significantly degrade the battalion, including the elimination of the battalion’s commander, announced on November 3.
IDF troops also conducted raids, which included extensive battles in the southern area of Sheikh Ijlin, in western Gaza City, where a significant number of Hamas operatives were located. During those raids, the troops eliminated numerous terrorists and their infrastructure, including rocket launchers, weapon depots, observation posts, and terror tunnels.
Meanwhile, the army expanded the fight into the Shati (Beach) refugee camp on the northern outskirts of Gaza City, which is also near Shifa Hospital. More than 10 gunmen were killed in those battles while hundreds of civilians fled the camp.
Soldiers from the Nahal Brigade identified and destroyed an underground tunnel apparatus near a school. The coordinated attack by Brigade 215 identified a group of terrorists moving towards IDF soldiers from the Givati Brigade and, using aerial assets, neutralized the group.
Overnight Friday, naval forces attacked structures used by Hamas against IDF forces in the northern Gaza Strip, including storage facilities of naval equipment.
Separately, a granddaughter of Ismail Haniyeh the political head of Hamas, was killed in an IDF attack in Gaza, according to Palestinian media reports. Haniyeh lives in Qatar.
The IDF eliminated Ahmed Siam, a company commander of Hamas’s Naser Radwan Company. Siam was responsible for holding approximately 1,000 Gazan residents hostage in Gaza’s Rantisi Hospital preventing them from evacuating south to safety, the IDF said on Saturday.
The assassination was coordinated by the IDF and the Shin Bet, including ground and air forces.
Though announced Saturday, IDF aircraft struck Siam two days ago. He was killed while hiding in the “al Buraq” school, where additional terrorists under his command were also hiding and were killed.
“Siam demonstrates once again that Hamas uses the civilians of the Gaza Strip as human shields for terror purposes,” the IDF said.