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- Speaking about military efforts to dismantle Hamas in the central and southern Gaza Strip, Hagari said “we will do it in a different way” without elaborating
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military signaled that it has wrapped up major combat in northern Gaza, saying it has completed dismantling Hamas' military infrastructure there, as the war against the militant group entered its fourth month Sunday.
The military did not address troop deployments in northern Gaza going forward. Its spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said late Saturday that forces would “continue to deepen the achievement” there, strengthen defenses along the Israel-Gaza border fence and focus on the central and southern parts of the territory.
Meanwhile, the health ministry in Gaza said Sunday at least 22,835 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory since war with Israel broke out on October 7.
The ministry said in a statement that it had recorded 113 deaths in the past 24 hours, while a total of 58,416 people had been wounded in the Gaza Strip during the three months of fighting.
It resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The militants also took around 250 hostages, 132 of whom remain in captivity, according to Israel.
Israel responded by bombarding the territory and sending in ground forces, killing at least 22,722 people, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Speaking about military efforts to dismantle Hamas in the central and southern Gaza Strip, Hagari said “we will do it in a different way” without elaborating.
“The refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip are crowded and full of terrorists,” he said.
In the south, the large urban landscape of Khan Yunis has an elaborate underground network of tunnels, he said.
“It takes time.”
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government had directed the army to “eliminate Hamas,” return all the hostages and ensure that Gaza will “never again be a threat to Israel.”
“The war must not be stopped until we achieve all of the goals,” he said in a statement.