“Hamas is approaching a breaking point in northern Gaza,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a televised address and press briefing on Monday night.
Intense battles are being fought as the Israeli army is advancing on the neighborhoods of Jabaliya and Shejaiya, the last strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip, for several days now.
Gallant issued a warning to Hamas units in other areas of Gaza that Israeli troops have not yet reached.
“We will continue the operations in other places as well. The fate of the other battalions, those who are fighting against us and those we have not reached yet, is the same fate — we will take them apart.
“Today IDF soldiers are lighting candles in hundreds of places throughout the Gaza Strip — this will go on and on and will reach all the points we want to reach in the Gaza Strip.”
“I am calling from here to all those battalions and their commanders: Surrender,” Gallant added.
Jabaliya and Shejaiya were known as particularly fortified areas and had already inflicted heavy losses on the Israeli forces in the last Gaza war in 2014.
“The battalions there were considered invincible; they prepared for years to fight us — and now are on the verge of cracking. The number of people surrendering there shows what is happening.”
Gallant said the terrorists who surrendered told the IDF that they had no food or ammunition left.
Among them, were also terrorists who participated in the events of Oct. 7, the defense minister said and added: “They’re telling us very interesting things.”
In the last few days, dozens of images and videos showing men surrendering in the Gaza Strip have been circulating on social media.
The footage has drawn some criticism, especially from abroad, for allegedly humiliating the surrendering men by having them strip down to their underpants to check for weapons and explosives before being detained.
Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, and IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari criticized the dissemination of these images and vowed to stop their circulation.
Gallant promised that the lives of those who surrendered to Israeli forces would be spared.
The same goes for all Hamas terrorists, up to their leader Yahya Sinwar, he stressed.
“I want to tell them, the fate of the head of the organization Yahya Sinwar and every other senior commander is the same, to surrender or die. There is no other option. Those who surrender will be dealt with in a certain way, and as for the rest, their fate is sealed, and they will go to their deaths.”
“Whoever prefers surrender, we will spare his life, and all the rest will die in battle,” the defense minister vowed.
After being asked about reports that the U.S. is pressuring Israel to wrap up its ground operation as soon as possible, Gallant responded: “The war will end when its goals are achieved.
“I take into consideration everything the U.S. asks and says, and take seriously, along with all the members of the cabinet, what America is doing. We will find a way to help the Americans help us.”
Republished with permission from All Israel News.