The IDF's Next Target: Khan Yunis and Hamas' Top Military Leaders

The IDF is cleaning up the remaining pockets of resistance in Gaza City and is already eyeing a move south towards cities like Khan Yunis, where arch-terrorists like Yahya Sinwar and Mohammad Deif are likely hiding, having both been born there.

The IDF is continuing to eliminate pockets of resistance in Gaza City and has started eyeing a move south, dropping leaflets on the city of Khan Yunis and warning its residents to evacuate from the eastern neighborhoods.

In an analysis for Walla News, military correspondent Dr. Amir Bohbot broke down the advantages and dangers of the effort.

The southern Gaza Strip still contains a substantial number of command posts, tunnels, weapons, thousands of Hamas fighters, and much of the Hamas leadership. This last includes the senior leaders of the Hamas military wing, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammad Deif, whom the IDF is very determined to see eliminated.

Bohbot says that while the Khan Yunis refugee camp is a built-up, dense area, it is no denser than similar camps and neighborhoods the IDF has successfully raided and cleared in the north and especially in Gaza city.

Hundreds of Hamas prisoners are already being interrogated by Israeli security forces and will provide vital intelligence information, in addition to other intelligence materials the IDF has already seized in command posts and other military positions.

It's not clear whether the IDF will aim to move in directly to eliminate Hamas members, squeeze them inside the camp, or force them against the Egyptian border. Bohbot notes that the possibility of a mass surrender is unlikely, and the IDF is taking the complexity of fighting such determined forces merged within the civilian population very seriously, even as they consider Sinwar a "dead man walking."