The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ended a week-long operation in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the IDF said on July 30. The raid began on July 22 after the IDF told Gazan civilians to evacuate several neighborhoods in the western part of the city.
The IDF said Hamas had used these locations to launch rockets at Israel and place forces there because the areas were previously designated as part of a humanitarian zone. The raid into Khan Younis represented the second battle the IDF has waged for the city. The first operation took over 100 days to complete, whereas the latest one lasted seven days.
The IDF chose the 98th Division to carry out the rapid raid into Khan Younis because the unit has conducted similar raids in northern Gaza. In each case, the division moved forward with commandos, combat engineers, paratroopers, and tanks, sweeping into an area and then seeking out terrorists and terrorist infrastructure.
Another recurring goal is to find hostages. In May, the division’s operation in Jabaliya in northern Gaza recovered the bodies of seven hostages. The 98th Division recovered five deceased hostages during its most recent operation in Khan Younis. Israel refers to all Israelis held in Gaza as hostages, whether they are known to be living or dead.
The 98th Division also had previous experience in Khan Younis, having operated there from December 2023 to April 2024. In these initial operations, it used complex tactics, maneuvering above and below ground simultaneously, to find and dismantle Hamas tunnels. The division also gained significant experience in rapid maneuver and sweeping areas without the intense bombing other units used in Gaza in November. The 98th Division employed consistent tactics in its most recent week of fighting the city.
“Over the past week, the troops have eliminated over 150 terrorists, dismantled terror tunnels, weapons storage facilities, and terrorist infrastructure, and located weapons,” the IDF said. The IDF was slim on further details about the operation’s results in terms of the number of tunnels found and the quantity of weapons uncovered. However, it released a video of 98th Division Commander Brigadier General Dan Goldfus speaking from inside a tunnel within Khan Younis. Recovering the bodies of the five hostages appears to have been one of the raid’s central goals.
The fighting in other parts of Gaza appears to have become much less intense recently. While Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad continue to claim to carry out near-daily attacks, most of them seem to be relatively small.
The IDF continues precision airstrikes on Hamas members, as well. On July 30, the IDF said it had eliminated Ibrahim Hegazi, who it described as being “responsible for anti-tank missiles in Hamas’ Nuseirat Battalion. Ibrahim planned and directed numerous terror attacks against IDF troops and he served as a central source of knowledge on anti-tank missiles for Hamas.” The IDF also continued operations in Tel al-Sultan in southern Gaza, near Rafah.
The second battle of Khan Younis took place amid increasing tensions inside Israel at IDF sites. Protesters gathered at the Beit Lid army base after reports the IDF was investigating several soldiers for abusing detainees. The protesters, some of whom scuffled with soldiers, came to support the soldiers who were under investigation.
IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said, “The IDF supports its soldiers, in regular service and in the reserves. We have come to Beit Lid because our soldiers are here and to ensure that nothing more severe happens. The arrival of rioters and attempts to break into bases are serious, unlawful behaviors bordering on anarchy, harming the IDF, the security of the state, and the war effort.”
