IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari revealed a new and up-to-date photo of Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif on Saturday. The photo shows him holding a stack of US dollars and a plastic cup of juice.
Recent Israeli intelligence information was received that Deif's physical condition was functioning, and he is functioning well and suffers only from damage to his eye and a slight limp.
Hagari said that the photo of Deif was found on a computer that was seized in Gaza. This was done through intense intelligence gathering by Israeli forces, where over 70 million intelligence files were downloaded from computers seized in Gaza.
"In order to understand the military operation in Gaza, you need to understand Hamas and how it operates. It is built in the framework of battalions and uses a branched underground system. The terrorists move in different areas of the Strip using the infrastructure in a secret manner." He explained that Hamas terrorists move around in the area without weapons, in civilian clothes.
Hamas in Gaza's north "completely dismantled"
Hagari also said that "Hamas's military framework in the northern Gaza Strip has been completely dismantled."
The IDF also killed around 8,000 terrorists in that area, a military spokesperson said.
The military has also seized tens of thousands of weapons and millions of documents in that area, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in an online briefing. "We are now focused on dismantling Hamas in the center of and south of the (Gaza) strip."
Hagari spoke about operations the IDF did in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, where the IDF evacuates the population from the crowded neighborhoods before an attack. After the evacuation of the residents, before the troops enter, the IAF attacks observation posts and infrastructure belonging to Hamas. "We attacked precisely, based on intelligence and according to international law," he said.
Intelligence gathering, such as how the IDF used to download millions of files from computers in Gaza, is only one of many goals that the IDF is using to dismantle Hamas, Hagari said.
Other goals include the elimination of Hamas's command. "The killing of the commanders made it difficult for the terrorists to fight," he said. The second goal is to fight the terrorists themselves by ground forces with air support. "The fight against terrorism is complex, and it exacts heavy prices," Hagari said. "We learn from every incident and try to reduce the number of casualties," Hagari said. "We rescued hundreds of wounded, thanks to which their lives were saved."
Another goal is to locate and destroy rockets and sites where they are produced. 40 thousand rockets have been destroyed, according to him, since the beginning of the war. The last goal is the destruction of the underground infrastructure.
Hagari informed that the IDF learned the lessons from the tragedy in which three hostages were killed by fire from their forces. According to him, "There are still terrorists in Jabaliya, but they are fighting without commanders. There are no shortcuts in the fight against terrorism," he said. He added that an operation similar to the one carried out in Jabaliya is taking place in eight more areas.
Amir Bohbot and Reuters contributed to this report.