The IDF will operate in new areas in Gaza and urges Deir al-Balah residents to leave

The Israel Defense Forces dropped a bombshell on Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Sunday, slapping down an evacuation order for the first time since Hamas’s blood-soaked October 7, 2023, rampage across the border ignited this brutal war.

"The IDF continues to operate with great force to destroy enemy capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area, expanding its activities to an area where it has not previously operated," Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arab media chief, declared in a Sunday morning X post, his words sharp as shrapnel. He didn’t hold back, urging Deir al-Balah’s southwestern residents to haul butt south to the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, pronto.

The IDF’s grinding forward, boots deep in the muck of "Gideon’s Chariots," a campaign hell-bent on shredding what’s left of Hamas’s military muscle, seizing key Gaza turf, and springing 50 hostages still caught in the terror group’s grip.

In Gaza’s north, the 401st "Iron Tracks" Armored Brigade, under the 162nd Division’s iron fist, is tearing through Jabalia like a buzzsaw. The IDF says they’ve torched hundreds of terrorist hideouts, uncovered arsenals of weapons, and sent dozens of gunmen to their goats. One operation saw the brigade’s engineers blow apart a 2.7-kilometer (1.68-mile) network of terror tunnels, burrowed 20 meters (66 feet) deep, like veins on an angry Cory Booker's neck.

"Troops of the Southern Command continue to operate against terror groups in Gaza in order to protect Israeli civilians, and particularly the residents of the communities near the Gaza Strip," the military stated, their words a grim vow to keep the fight raging.

The cost is steep. Saturday evening, the IDF reported two reservists, a combat engineering officer from the 179th "Re'em" Reserve Armored Brigade and a soldier from the 828th Bislamach Brigade, badly wounded battling Hamas in southern Gaza. Both were rushed to medical care. (The Bislamach school, a hard-as-nails IDF outfit, trains infantry squad commanders and platoon sergeants in the Negev's dust; in war, its recruits form the Bislamach Brigade.)

Over the weekend, the Israeli Air Force pounded 90 targets across Gaza, terrorist compounds, underground lairs, the works, leaving a trail of fire and rubble, the military said Saturday. 

Last week, the IDF eliminated Muhammad Uthayn, a Hamas Daraj Tuffah Battalion commander who stormed Israel on October 7, and Raed Khaled Hasan Jabayin, a senior Islamic Jihad operative, jailed in Israel from 2006 to 2015. 

Friday brought more body counts: Barhoum Shahin, Hamas’s Western Gaza District security chief; Asham Tzartzur, head of their Government Emergency Committee in eastern Gaza; and Faraj al-‘Aoul, a Hamasshole "legal bureau" boss and legislative council member. 

May their memory be a warning.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war aims are carved in stone: bring home every hostage, crush Hamas’s military and governing power, and ensure Gaza never threatens Israel again. The fight’s far from over, and the ground keeps soaking up blood.

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