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The IDF’s Systematic Approach to Dismantling Hamas
Israeli soldiers drape their country’s flag over an IDF tank near the border with Gaza. Photo: Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
JNS.org – On the eve of the war, Hamas possessed an estimated 30,000 armed terrorists, divided into five territorial brigades and 24 battalions across the Gaza Strip. It had a sprawling weapons production industry, much of it underground, and distributed the weapons through hundreds of miles of tunnels. It had an estimated rocket arsenal of some 15,000 projectiles, and death squads on the border preparing to conduct the worst mass murder of Jews since the Second World War.
More than 100 days into the fighting, the Hamas war machine has sustained severe damage and is being further degraded by the day. Its ability to function as an organized military force in northern and central Gaza has been eliminated, though Hamas prepared cells with the ability to function independently. These lone cells continue to attack Israeli forces as the opportunity arises, with whatever means they have to hand.
While the latest Israel Defense Forces assessment is that Hamas has thus far lost more than 9,000 fighters—a third of its fighting force—this is far from a complete picture of the true scope of damage it has sustained, not least because that figure pertains to fatalities, not overall battle casualties, which are likely far higher.
Furthermore, according to an IDF source, the Israeli military has been engaged in a gradual, ordered process of dismantling Hamas’s capabilities from the top down, starting with its command structure.
According to the source, the IDF and its divisions within Gaza focus their firepower and maneuvers first on eliminating enemy commanders, as well as their command and control capabilities—meaning the places from which they command field cells.
In the next stage, the terror group’s infrastructure is targeted, such as bases and military posts. Weapons production and storage sites comprised the next layer of targets.
It is only after these target banks are exhausted that the IDF prioritizes targeting Hamas fighters.
Furthermore, the estimate of Hamas fatalities is constantly rising; the IDF estimates that over 100 terrorists were killed in western Khan Yunis on Tuesday alone.
Of higher priority for the IDF is Hamas’s tunnel networks, which are being systematically mapped and destroyed.
Hamas’s ability to switch from organized command structures to decentralized guerilla warfare means that the IDF must be prepared for a prolonged fight against a determined asymmetric jihadist force—but one that is losing operatives, commanders and capabilities by the day.
The IDF has completed the encirclement of Hamas’s final major stronghold of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, with intense fighting being reported particularly in the city’s southern and western areas.
IDF special forces and intelligence units have been operating in the tunnels under the city for weeks, building a detailed intelligence picture and stepping up the pressure on Hamas’s leadership, which, together with the hostages, is likely located in this area.
In addition, the IDF is preparing a buffer zone in eastern Gaza, in which it is removing areas used by Hamas to launch its murderous attack on Oct. 7. The 21 reservists who died on Tuesday were conducting a controlled demolition as part of this effort when their location was hit by an RPG.
“Our forces continue a broad operation in western Khan Yunis, one of Hamas’s significant centers of gravity,” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stated on Tuesday during a press conference.
“It is very complex terrain, densely populated with many Hamas terrorists concealed in the area, including in sensitive facilities, trying to surprise our forces. The forces are fighting courageously using a variety of methods, skillfully and with close support of aerial fire and intelligence. Our forces are striking military posts and terror infrastructure, and in recent days destroyed a tunnel network spanning a kilometer and a half as well as a rocket production facility,” he said.
“We continue to fight throughout the Gaza Strip, in the north, center, and the south. We are deepening our achievements and are continuing to operate around the clock to create conditions for the return of the hostages.”
The post The IDF’s Systematic Approach to Dismantling Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters

Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights.
The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump in the first month of his term.
The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month.
Justice Department lawyers have argued that the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days.
Trump vowed to deport activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian terrorists.
The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution.”
“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC.
Chris Godshall-Bennett, the group’s legal director, said the litigation seeks immediate and long-term relief “to protect international students from any unconstitutional overreach that stifles free expression and deters them from fully engaging in academic and public discourse.”
The lawsuit centers on three Cornell University plaintiffs: a British-Gambian national and PhD student with a student visa; a US citizen PhD student working on plant science; and a US citizen novelist, poet, and professor in the Department of Literatures in English.
The post Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week

Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar speaks at Reichman University in Herzliya on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet security agency, that he will bring a vote before his government to dismiss him next week.
The post Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes

Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country,” Saree said, vowing the Houthis “will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships in the declared zone of operations until aid and basic needs are delivered to the Gaza Strip.”
The post Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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