IDF controls 40% of Gaza City as they push on

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are tightening the screws on Hamas, now claiming control over roughly 40% of Gaza City as their ground offensive ramps up. This isn't a half-hearted poke at the hornet's nest, Brig. Gen. Ephraim "Effie" Defrin, the IDF's spokesman, made it clear this is a full-throttle push. "We will increase pressure on Hamas until its defeat," he told reporters, laying out the stakes in what's been dubbed "Operation Gideon's Chariots." Sounds biblical, doesn’t it? Well, the IDF is bringing some Old Testament-level resolve.

Defrin briefed the press on Wednesday night, detailing how the IDF's 99th Division, think Nahal and 7th Armored Brigade grunts, are digging into Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood. 

Meanwhile, the 162nd Division, including the 401st Armored Brigade and Givati Brigade, is hammering the outskirts of Sheikh Radwan in the north. The IDF isn't just strolling through; they're blowing up terror tunnels. Defrin even shared footage of the wreckage and promising to crank up the heat on Hamas's infrastructure. 

No word on how many tunnels are left, but it's a safe bet they're not long for this world.

The operation isn't just about smashing Hamas's toys. Defrin emphasized the IDF's all-in approach to rescuing hostages, saying they're "turning over every stone to bring the hostages home." That's no small task, with 48 still unaccounted for, per Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Aug. 14 outline. 

Defrin's words carry weight: "We will continue to do everything possible to return them." Noble, but let’s be real; Hamas isn't exactly eager to hand over bargaining chips.

This latest push stems from an Aug. 8 Cabinet decision to occupy Gaza City, which Netanyahu publicly confirmed on Aug. 31. Since then, things have moved fast. An Israeli security source told Hebrew media that 80,000 Palestinians have already fled Gaza City as the IDF rolls in. That's a lot of displacement, and it's raising eyebrows about where this all leads.

Here's where it gets spicy: Channel 12 reports that Netanyahu's charging ahead partly because of pressure from none other than U.S. President Donald Trump, who is apparently done with diplomatic niceties. Trump's lost faith in negotiations, and Bibi's not shedding tears over it. When Hamas floated a "comprehensive deal" to end the war on Wednesday, Netanyahu swatted it away as "another Hamas spin that has nothing new in it." 

Translation: nice try, but we're not buying.

Netanyahu laid out his endgame, and it isn't subtle: disarm Hamas, free all 48 hostages, demilitarize Gaza, secure Israeli control, and set up a new civilian administration. That’s a tall order, and it's hard to see Hamas signing off on their own funeral. Defrin's "force multiplier" of tens of thousands of reservists suggests Israel is ready to grind this out, but at what cost? Gaza is already a mess, and with 80,000 people on the move, the humanitarian fallout is only going to grow.

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