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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Hamas military structure ruined in most of Gaza Strip — Israeli defense minister

Yoav Galant reiterated that further fighting in the Gaza Strip was bringing closer the release of Israeli hostages held in the enclave

TEL AVIV, April 2. /TASS/. Israel believes that the organized military structure of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas has been mostly eliminated in the Gaza Strip, Defense Minister Yoav Galant has said at a hearing at the parliamentary commission on defense and foreign policy.

According to his estimates, the radicals continue organized operations only in the area of the city of Rafah near the border with Egypt.

"Hamas has stopped functioning as a military organization in most of the Gaza Strip. Their commanders are hiding in tunnels. They have lost command and control capabilities. Their battalion structures in most parts of the Strip have ceased to function. The Hamas brigade in Rafah, however, is still in operation, with its four battalions. We will deal with it soon," said Galant, according to the Defense Ministry’s press service.

He reiterated that further fighting in the Gaza Strip was bringing closer the release of Israeli hostages held in the enclave.

"Military pressure has been and remains the main and most significant component in the hostage return process. The advanced stage of eliminating Hamas that we have reached and the information we have received from the terrorists strengthen us at the negotiating table and enable us to make difficult decisions. I am committed to bringing all hostages home," Gallant added.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, 2023, accompanied by mass killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and the taking of 240 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. A ground operation followed. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.

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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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