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daily throughout social media. There are also harrowing reports about the hostages’ ordeals in captivity, intensifying concerns about the plight of the remaining hostages.  Israelis also feel a great deal of uncertainty about the future, and about whether, when, and how the country can achieve the goal of eliminating the Hamas terror organization. Although many of Hamas’ fighters and leaders have been killed – including heads and members of Hamas’ Nukhba Forces, which perpetrated the barbaric October 7 th atrocities – a good number still remain, either hiding in the terror group’s extensive underground tunnel network, or living camouflaged among the civilian population. The process of dismantling Hamas could take many more months, and it is feared that this will continue to cost the lives of many soldiers, Heaven forbid. As a result of Israelis’ ongoing fears and concerns, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval rating among the public was found to be just 45 percent, according to a poll taken in mid-January by the Yisrael Hayom newspaper. Dismantling a Vast Terror Infrastructure In early January, the IDF announced that the military campaign has entered a newphase, and that it would beginwithdrawing some of its battalions from Gaza. The IDF claimed to have completed the dismantling of Hamas’ military framework in northern Gaza, and was now in the process of doing the same in the central and southern regions. Much of the city of Khan Younis had already come under the IDF’s control, but the Israeli military had yet to be deployed in the other large city in southern Gaza – Rafah, near the Egyptian border. Israel Shin Bet intelligence agency has obtained a great deal of information from both captured Hamas operatives, and Hamas assets which were seized by the troops. Some of this information has helped the IDF in its military efforts, and some has enabled Israel to expose Hamas’ cruel and cynical tactics, including the way it has embedded itself within and under civilian infrastructure. For example, the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabaliya, a town north of Gaza City, revealed during an interrogation that the site was used by Hamas to house a kidnapped soldier, and as a base for its terrorist activities. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that Israel must control not only its own border with Gaza, but also the border between Gaza and its southern neighbor, Egypt, to prevent the smuggling of weapons. To that end, Netanyahu declared, Israel will insist on seizing and maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the nine-mile strip of land between Egypt and Gaza. Speaking at a press briefing on January 13, the Israeli premier vowed, “We’ll destroy Hamas, we’ll demilitarize Gaza. Military equipment and other deadly weapons will [otherwise] continue to enter this southern opening, so of course we need to close it.” Netanyahu has rejected all calls for a ceasefire, insisting that Israel will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled. Additionally, the Prime Minister has ruled out handing over the strip to the Palestinian Authority (PA) after the war is over, claiming that Israel cannot entrust its security to the PA, a hostile entity. The dismantling of Hamas’ infrastructure, which is embedded within and underneath the civilian population, has taken a heavy toll on the lives of the Gazans. Palestinian officials claim that 85 percent of Gazans have been internally displaced. And while Israel has allowed hundreds of truckloads of aid into the strip each day, the United Nations’ humanitarian chief described the situation as “intolerable.” The IDF has been fighting also up north, against the Hezbollah terrorist group which sits in southern Lebanon with a far more formidable military force than Hamas had in Gaza. Although Hezbollah has, to date, stopped short of initiating a full-scale war on Israel, it has been firing rockets intermittently into northern Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis were forced to evacuate from their homes in northern Israel when the war began, and they have been displaced for several months. The IDF successfully targeted Wissam al-Tawil, commander of Ridwan Force, an elite Hezbollah unit, on January 8 th . Nevertheless, Hezbollah’s enormous arsenal of “We’ll destroy Hamas, we’ll demilitarize Gaza. Military equipment and other deadly weapons will [otherwise] continue to enter this southern opening, so of course we need to close it.” - Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu SHEVAT - ADAR 1 5784 / FEBRUARY 2024 25