While much of the Israeli and international attention remains focused on the war in Lebanon—currently at a crossroads between an imminent conclusion or an expanded ground maneuver—the IDF continues full-force operations in the Gaza Strip. Division 162, maneuvering in the northern Gaza region, reportedly eliminated nearly 1,200 militants concentrated in the Jabalia area and took approximately a thousand more captive. Aerial imagery and terrain analysis indicate the division has effectively created an additional corridor (similar to the “Netzarim Route” but narrower) that divides the northern half of the strip, preventing the movement of civilians and militants back toward the northern border, adjacent to towns and communities like Sderot, Erez, and Netiv HaAsara.
What is the strategy behind this powerful operation? Officially, the action aims to decisively neutralize Hamas’s Northern Brigade. As a reminder, the brigade’s commander, Ahmad Ghandour, was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with his men over a year ago, in early November. Since then, Hamas’s various battalions have been operating in a relatively disconnected and weakened manner, with a significantly diminished capacity for carrying out attacks. If the division’s reported numbers are accurate, the brigade’s operational capacity may be irreparably compromised.
However, there are suspicions domestically and internationally that the operation is a preliminary test of the “Generals’ Plan,” proposed by several former IDF officers led by Giora Eiland. This plan calls for the gradual isolation of different areas in Gaza, clearing them of civilians, and conducting sweeps to completely destroy infrastructure and eliminate all militants. The IDF has denied this is the purpose of the operation (mainly due to concerns about international criticism), but according to media reports, tens of thousands of Gazans have been displaced or forcibly evacuated south of the corridor created in Jabalia.
Whatever the operation’s purpose may be, it is clearly an important step toward defeating Hamas and achieving the war’s objectives. However, this crucial action has not come without a price—over the last two days, the names of five fallen IDF soldiers killed in Jabalia were published. Major (Res.) Itamar Levin-Friedman, 34, was killed by an anti-tank strike; four soldiers from the Kfir Brigade were killed the following day: Or Katz (20, from Ma’ale Adumim), Gary Zulat (21, from Afula), Ofir Eliyahu (20, from Holon), and Naveh Yair Asulin (21, from Karmit). May their memory be a blessing.
