Hand-to-hand battles against terrorists - 36th Division forces fighting to defeat the Zeitoun Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organization / IDF Spokesperson
The IDF made a breakthrough at Shifa Hospital after engineering forces managed to break down the door and reach underground rooms. There are many findings, and at this stage the IDF has not revealed them.
The 36th Division's focus is around the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, where fierce battles are taking place against squads of the Zeitoun Battalion. At the same time, there are areas where the IDF is already operating freely because the area has been occupied and most of it has been cleansed.
As part of the 36th Division's activity in the areas that were taken over, where Hamas Brigades were severely beaten and the number of fatalities that dismantled the significant resistance, very large quantities of shafts, tunnels, weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles, advanced radios, and lathes for manufacturing weapons were identified. Some of the UAVs are replicas of Israeli-made aircraft that fell into Hamas hands in recent years. One of the UAV and rocket production sites was built underground under the mosque.
Activity of the 36th Division forces in the Zeitoun neighborhood. November 20, 2023/IDF Spokesperson
Testimonies emerging from the field indicate that the terrorists' modus operandi are concentrated in stages: the battalion shell fights fiercely, but after the IDF uses heavy fire against it, a large part of the terrorists put down their weapons and flee, taking off their uniforms and changing into civilian clothes. A small part moves to a second line and continues to fight.
The IDF confirms that the destruction of the shafts and tunnels took longer than expected, because the instruction of the senior command is to destroy the tunnels and not only cause damage. It is estimated that within a few days the IDF will complete the takeover of the Zeitoun neighborhood.
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Activity of the 36th Division forces in the Zeitoun neighborhood. November 20, 2023/IDF Spokesperson
In a small number of the encounters there are battles with an organization ranging from 5-10 terrorists, but usually these are small squads that find it very difficult to launch an attack because most of their observation squads were killed, so they have to rely on the hearing of the larvae of armored personnel carriers and tanks in order to prepare for IDF forces. They then begin to skip between built-up areas. At the beginning of the battles, these were squads that used shafts in the area to launch anti-tank missiles and escape into the tunnels.
Most of the combat zones are in areas without civilians. The terrorists prevent the population from accessing humanitarian aid, including food and water. In an unusual incident near Shifaa Hospital, commanders of the 36th Division noticed terrorists preventing the public from accessing food. An order was given to advance forces to kill or arrest them, and then the Palestinian public present applauded them.
"Attraction attacks"
A new phenomenon is called "pull attacks." Hamas squads try to provoke IDF forces to fight in built-up areas, in booby-trapped structures with shafts. The sharpness of commanders prevents fighting in such areas.
The IDF is investigating incidents of bilateral fire at the forces, some of which resulted in the deaths and injuries of combatants. Procedures were sharpened between sectors, identification of forces in the command and control system, and composure of commanders, especially between infantry and tanks around built-up areas. In addition, there are attempts by terrorists to move from the south to the north. They encounter IDF forces and are killed.
Destruction of terrorist infrastructure by the forces of the 36th Division. November 20, 2023/IDF Spokesperson
Fighters from the Golani Brigade's combat team led the beginning of the fighting in Zeitoun. The fighters have encountered dozens of terrorists since the beginning of the fighting in the neighborhood, conducting hand-to-hand battles against them, and so far have eliminated many of them.
Fighters from the 188th Brigade's combat team took over a number of key targets of the Zeitoun Battalion, including the Gaza Brigade commander's office and the battalion's central headquarters. The forces searched the area, located large quantities of weapons, and at the end of the search destroyed the brigade commander's office. In addition, the forces directed an airstrike in the area of the Zeitoun neighborhood, leading to the elimination of terrorists. In recent days, the forces located a laboratory for manufacturing rockets, large quantities of weapons, explosives and explosives, a tunnel shaft, a large quantity of weapons, and drones inside a mosque in the neighborhood.
Fighters from the combat team of the infantry school brigade destroyed military targets of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Zeitoun neighborhood, including an outpost for the manufacture of weapons belonging to the PIJ terrorist organization, where heavy and long-range rockets were found, a lathe used for terrorist purposes was found, tunnel shafts were destroyed, headquarters of the Hamas terrorist organization were taken, intelligence material used by the organization to learn about IDF salt was confiscated, and other buildings were attacked from which terrorists fired at IDF forces.
Brigadier General Dado Bar Kalifa, commander of the 36th Division: "During the last days of fighting of the 36th Division in the Zeitoun neighborhood, we constantly encountered an enemy hiding behind women and children and behind sensitive civilian infrastructure. The division's forces, including Golani's combat team, the combat team of the 188th Armored Brigade and the combat team of the infantry school brigade, operated within a complex war zone within the built-up area, exposed the terrorists hiding in civilian space and eliminated many terrorists. These achievements were made possible thanks to the close cooperation between the infantry, engineering and armored forces and the air force forces. We will not stop until we achieve all our goals, and we will continue to work to protect our home."
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