IDF reinvades Khan Yunis after 3.5 month break as it draws down some forces from Rafah

Two full IDF brigades under command of Division 98 Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus reinvaded Khan Yunis in southern Gaza on Monday making it the first time that sizable Israeli forces have operated there since Israel withdrew its initial invasion on April 7.

IDF tanks and military vehicles rolled into specifically eastern Khan Yunis where the IDF said that Hamas has started to try to reconstitute itself under the guise of a humanitarian area.

Last week, the IDF said that 1.9 million out of the 2.3 Palestinian Gaza population had moved to a mix of central Gaza, al-Muwasi and Khan Yunis, making it unclear how many civilians would need to be moved, but clear that it would be a large number.

The IDF’s first invasion of Khan Yunis took place on December 1 and by early February it had achieved operational control with almost the entire civilian population having left.

From early February to April 7, the IDF undertook smaller targeted operations in select portions of Khan Yunis to root out additional Hamas forces who were hiding mostly in high rise buildings, before withdrawing.

However, on July 13, Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif met with then Khan Yunis Hamas chief Rafa’a Salame in Khan Yunis, confirming IDF intelligence that top Hamas leaders, possibly also including Gaza Chief Yahya Sinwar, had returned to the area during the IDF’s absence.

While Israel has not confirmed the strike successfully eliminated Deif, it has highlighted the likelihood that the arch-terrorist was killed.

Additionally, the IDF confirmed the strike killed the commander of Hamas's Khan Yunis Brigade, Rafa’a Salameh, as well as numerous other terrorists.

Avoiding harm to civilians, while possibly allowing terrorists to escape

An NGO of senior reservist commanders slammed the IDF for allowing the civilian population to leave without checking those seeking to leave for whether they are members of Hamas, possibly even top leaders.

The group said that throughout the war the IDF has made it easy for Hamas’s leaders to flee along with masses of civilians every time it has invaded an area.

An IDF spokesman did not answer the general allegation but said that the purpose of this operation was more limited to simply preventing Hamas from reconstituting itself in Khan Yunis.

Further, the IDF said it had struck around 30 terror infrastructure targets using a mix of air strikes and ground forces strikes.

Moreover, the military said it had neutralized the Khan Yunis area from which a rocket was fired toward Nirim earlier Monday.

Also earlier on Monday, the IDF announced it "is about to forcefully operate against the terrorist organizations" in the eastern part of the humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip due to intelligence information indicating Hamas terror infrastructure was located in the area.

As a result, the military stated that it would adjust the humanitarian zone in Gaza in order to operate against the terror elements in the vicinity.

In parallel, the IDF's Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee released a statement in Arabic on X, formerly Twitter, calling on the civilian population to evacuate. 

The military affirmed, "Early warning to civilians is being made in order to mitigate harm to the civilian population and keep civilians away from areas of combat," adding that it "Therefore calls on the remaining population left in the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi."

The military also stated it was notifying the population of the need to evacuate the area via phone calls, SMS messages, and Arabic broadcasts.

Hamas makes a practice of embedding itself in civilian areas.

In an update on Monday on operations in Rafah, where it seemed that the IDF was drawing down some forces despite official IDF denials, new footage of armed Hamas terrorists trying to take over a humanitarian aid truck delivering aid to residents of Gaza was published.

Even in early July, there were signs that the IDF was concluding its larger operations in Rafah following a meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there with a group of top defense officials.

In the latest operation, the Nahal Brigade raided a school near the humanitarian corridor where armed terrorists were based. The soldiers directed drones to eliminate the terrorists and located an operational shaft that led to tunnels in the schoolyard.

The IDF reported that the Nahal Brigade, under the command of Division 162, completed four different operations in the Rafah area in the last two months.

They attacked Hamas targets, eliminated over 150 terrorists, and located about 400 different weapons.

The brigade operated in the Al-Barazil neighborhood in Rafah, where they destroyed a hundred-meter-long tunnel, which included several floors. They also located surface-to-surface and underground drills, rockets in sensitive locations, and shafts leading to underground tunnels.

North of the Yavna refugee camp, the IDF carried out an operation in which they killed terrorists and located ammunition depots in the area.

In addition, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claimed on Monday that 39,006 Palestinians have been killed.

Israel has claimed that at least 14,000-18,000 were terrorists or Palestinians killed accidentally by Hamas’s own misfires.