IDF says Hamas is half destroyed in Rafah

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–Article last amended: Jun 19 at 10:26:41 UTC (history)

This article requires pre-publication review by an uninvolved reviewer (one not substantially involved in writing the article).

–Article last amended: Jun 19 at 10:26:41 UTC (history)

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

On Monday, the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) reported that at hundreds of gunmen had been killed in Rafah. They also reported that half of the Hamas fighting force in Rafah was destroyed. The battalions in the South and East are generally considered to be mostly or totally destroyed.

The IDF said that it has found 130 access shafts, including “20 tunnels suspected of being smuggling tunnels from the Egyptian Sinai.”

The IDF said that operations in Rafah would continue until “we have decisively destroyed the Rafah Brigade.”

Rafah was believed to have contained 8,000 Hamas militants before the Rafah offensive.

This came amidst the recent escalation after the October 7, 2023 attack. The attack killed 1,139 Israelis, including 373 members of the security forces, 695 civilians (including 36 children), and 71 foreigners. In addition, nearly 250 Israelis were taken hostage. During the attack, more than 3,000 Hamas gunmen crossed the border, as well as nearly 6,000 rockets were fired. Sources indicate numerous acts of sexual assault resulted during this conflict. Thousands of rockets are also reported to have been fired during the attack. In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and mobilized 350,000 reservists. Up to May 2024, Israel says they have killed 14,000 terrorists and 16,000 civilians during the war, while Hamas says that 35,000 people have been killed.