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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have dispatched 50 Hamas fighters to their eternal reward in northern and central Gaza, according to a Monday announcement from the IDF. Not that their eternal reward was in northern and central Gaza, that's where they were killed, but their reward is in a place much hotter.
To be precise, Division 252 has been busy around the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza and sundry areas to the north, uncovering a tunnel network stretching a full kilometer - a subterranean surprise missed in previous incursions.
Not content with mere spelunking, the IDF also obliterated a rocket fabrication facility. This could prove consequential as Hamas has resumed its irritating habit of lobbing rockets - in admittedly paltry numbers - at the Gaza Corridor of late. "By air and land: Attacking Hamas" - a pithy summary of the IDF's recent exertions.
Earlier that Monday, the IDF declared it was extending its invasion to virgin territory in Rafah.
The previous day, with hostage talks teetering at a tipping point, the Gaza war seemed to be coasting along on autopilot. From Thursday to Sunday last week, aerial assaults persisted and limited ground probes occurred, but no major escalation materialized - a far cry from the IDF's more vigorous invasions earlier in the conflict or the dire forecasts of a month ago, when a new hostage deal seemed a distant prospect.
With little news to report on the Gaza front in recent days, the Israeli government appears to have flashed a cautionary amber light, pausing the invasion's momentum to allow space for negotiating a new hostage accord with Hamas. This came just prior to the IDF going deeper into Gaza, which probably had most residents head out to the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone
before the IDF plunges deeper into Gaza, likely forcing most residents to decamp for the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone on the Mediterranean shore.
Prior to Monday, the IDF's last claim of eliminating dozens of Hamas terrorists came the previous Thursday. Friday and Sunday were silent days for IDF Gaza war updates, while Saturday brought a lone minor report of a foray into a less vital Rafah sector, plus news of assorted air strikes.
The last significant ground operation was March 26, when the IDF mandated a mass Palestinian exodus from northern Gaza - Zeitoun, Rimal, Tel-al-awa and two other districts - adding to prior evacuations from Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia. Most key northern Gaza Hamas strongholds, barring downtown Gaza City, Shejaiya, and Shaati, were thus emptied, making those March 26 maneuvers noteworthy.
That same day, the IDF pummeled Gaza areas responsible for an unspecified impact near Zimrat in the Gaza Corridor. Hamas's March 26 rocket volley failed to kill, but one of the two projectiles penetrated defenses, and the Gazan terror outfits retain the capacity to fire a handful of rockets simultaneously. Same on Saturday, when the IDF hit Khan Yunis zones that had mortared nearby IDF troops.
Zooming out, the most devastating blow of this renewed strife was undoubtedly March 18, when the air force flattened some 80 high-value targets - including numerous senior Hamas politicos - in a mere 10 minutes.
A few days of steady escalation and invasion into various Gaza sectors ensued, seemingly peaking on March 26 with potential to expand further into Gaza City, fresh parts of Khan Yunis, and central Gaza. Instead, it has leveled off for now.
Last week, a cabal of senior reservists urged IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir to widen the invasion pronto and squeeze Hamas to the max, even as hostage advocates pressed the government to strike a new bargain with the Gazan terror group and suspend the latest hostilities. Israel resumed combat after a 42-day ceasefire, followed by an almost three-week stalemate between the parties on the ceasefire's next phase.
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