Five Israeli soldiers were killed in Beit Hanun on Monday, and another 14 soldiers were wounded. The incident involved terrorists using explosive devices and gunfire and took place as the IDF's Netzah Yehuda Battalion, part of the Kfir Brigade, was operating in the northern Gaza city.
The tragedy in Beit Hanun is one of several similar incidents over the past month and a half of battles in Gaza. Israel returned to fighting in mid-March 2025 after a ceasefire that began in January.
However, operations in March and April were minimal, designed to expand the IDF’s control of the Morag Corridor near Rafah and also return to the buffer zone along the border.
Beit Hanun is in the buffer zone. The Gazan town, which is very close to the Israeli city of Sderot, has long been a hot spot for terrorists, often used by Hamas and other groups to launch rockets at Israel.
The IDF operated in Beit Hanun many times during the 640 days of the Israel-Hamas War.
Most of the city has been badly damaged or destroyed in the war. However, there is a false perception that destroying areas in Gaza or razing whole communities will make the terrorists go away.
In fact, the rubble and destruction may only provide a false sense of victory. The terrorists return to the wreckage. Terrorists hiding in rubble are just as challenging to find as those operating in an urban area untouched by war.
The rubble may even help the terrorists hide, as it initially gives the impression that an area has been cleared or “pacified.”
History demonstrates that the ruins of cities do not make them any easier to conquer. During the World War II Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet city was destroyed, but the Soviets and Nazis nevertheless had a difficult time fighting over it.
WHAT HAS the clearing of Beit Hanun looked like over the last year and a half? Back in December 2024, the IDF said that “following prior intelligence regarding the presence of terrorist infrastructure and operatives in the area, and as part of the effort to maintain security for the residents of the communities in southern Israel, the Nahal Brigade began operating overnight against terror targets in the area of Beit Hanun.”
The military asked civilians to move out of the town, and the IDF used the air force and artillery to strike terror targets before infantry moved in to mop up.
In September 2024, the IDF also had to strike terrorists in Beit Hanun.
“With the direction of IDF and Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] intelligence, the IAF conducted a precise strike on a Hamas command and control center embedded inside a compound that previously served as the Raazi El Shua School in Beit Hanun,” it said.
Perhaps Hamas never left Beit Hanun
The problem with Beit Hanun is that the terrorists keep returning – or perhaps they have never left.
In January 2025, just before the ceasefire, the IDF noted that “the Nahal Brigade continues its activities in the Beit Hanun area in the Gaza Strip. As part of these activities, the brigade’s troops uncovered and dismantled multiple sites used to launch rockets toward Israel, as well as several rockets intended to launch.”
The army said that “booby-trapped structures and observation equipment planted in the area to harm our forces were dismantled. In recent days, the brigade’s troops have been engaging in intense combat in the area, during which both commanders and soldiers have fallen. The IDF extends its condolences to the bereaved families and will continue to accompany them.”
This means that after more than a year of war, the terrorists were still active in Beit Hanun. They were placing improvised explosive devices, and they had plenty of terrorist infrastructure in the area.
There was “intense combat,” the military said. Yet, despite the challenge of a year of fighting in Gaza from the end of 2023 to January 2025, the enemy was allowed to remain in Beit Hanun. The ceasefire clearly gave the enemy time to regroup and recover, as it has all over the Gaza Strip.
WHEN ISRAEL began operations again in March, Beit Hanun was not a significant objective.
Later, Operation Gideon’s Chariots was launched in May to regain IDF control over approximately 60%-70% of the enclave.
The theory was that the military would control these areas permanently this time. No more raids into areas and then leaving, such that the enemy returns and the ground has to be repeatedly retaken.
Beit Hanun is a microcosm representation of Gaza. The IDF has cleared it several times. Most Israeli commentators who follow IDF operations noted on Tuesday that the area has been retaken numerous times.
Yet, the enemy was able to set up an apparently complex ambush. The same methods were used to soften up the area before the IDF entered with infantry.
The problem is that the enemy has become familiar with IDF tactics over the last 640 days of war. The tragedy in Beit Hanun was more than a year in the making. If Beit Hanun, which is close to Sderot, cannot be cleared, how will most of Gaza be fully cleared of terrorists?
Every military leader knows that plans only look good on paper until they are put into action against the enemy. Then, both sides should shift tactics as they learn what works and what does not.
Although the IDF has learned a lot in Gaza, the enemy is also learning. It is waiting in the wings for an opportunity to strike.
Hamas controls the central camps and Gaza City, and it assumes the IDF will not enter this 30% region of Gaza.
As such, it uses that as a redoubt and then fights a low-level insurgency in the 60% of Gaza where the IDF is operating.
Hamas knows that Israeli officials have vowed to disarm the terrorist group, exile its leaders, and defeat it. But it also knows that Israel has made these vows in the past and that Israel tends to convince itself that it is victorious, while Hamas survives each round.
All Hamas has to do is sit and wait. If it has survived in Beit Hanun, this indicates the difficulty of uprooting it from elsewhere as well.