Hamas at ‘turning point’ in Gaza War as Israel uncovers significant intelligence resources

In recent days, combat teams under the command of the 99th Division found large quantities of weapons hidden in a high-rise building and in a terrorist’s apartment in the heart of Gaza City.

The combat teams of the 3rd Brigade, the 8th Brigade, the Commando Brigade, and the Multidimensional Unit operated last week in the Gaza City area. The troops searched and raided an area being used by Hamas to rebuild its military capabilities inside UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City.

During the operation, the soldiers raided buildings where Hamas terrorists were located, including a building in a civilian neighborhood where a Hamas terrorist barricaded himself. While conducting searches, the troops located weapons, ammunition, Hamas naval commando equipment, military vests, rifles, and intelligence materials.

IDF soldiers uncover Hamas commando equipment, weapons and ammunition in Gaza City, July 20, 2024. (Photo: IDF)

The IDF said that over the past week, troops of the 99th division eliminated over 150 terrorists, destroyed approximately 100 terrorist infrastructure sites, and located an underground weapons workshop.

On Saturday night, the IAF destroyed a structure used by the “Elkahira” company since the beginning of the war. The IDF said the company used the structure to store and transfer large amounts of funds to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, as well as to carry out terror activities.

The IDF also struck and killed the Hamas operative Tahsin Elandim, who operated in the “Elkahira” Company, among other roles. In his role in “Elkahira”, Tahsin transferred funds to the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, including to Hamas’ military wing.

As the IDF has been carrying out more intelligence-based operations in recent months, especially with the killing of several senior Hamas leaders, Israeli leaders say they are seeing a “turning point” in the war against Hamas.

Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, speaking with Reshet Bet in an interview Sunday morning about the possibility of an imminent hostage deal, said, “Hamas has folded and is ready today for things for which it was not prepared before.”

During the war, IDF and Shin Bet have uncovered vast amounts of Hamas intelligence resources, including documents, computers, and digital files, giving them a better understanding of Hamas’ internal structure and its goals for the war.

A senior security official exposed to the intelligence told The Jerusalem Post that “The amount of intelligence accumulated so far in the hands of Shin Bet and Military Intelligence allows us to dismantle Hamas from within.”

The intelligence shows that Hamas has been transitioning its military wing from a collection of fighters into an organized army.

The IDF and Shin Bet found extensive records detailing equipment, protocols of meetings, and notes of discussions between senior and junior officers.

A military official told the Post, “Hundreds and thousands of interrogations of terrorists and senior leaders would not have yielded such intimate intelligence on their methods of order and organization in such a short period.”

Officials found documents showing Hamas plans to operate in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Europe, and the US, without attracting attention. The plans were uniquely tailored for each country.

Some of the documents recovered exposed the corruption within Hamas and its connections to aid groups. The apartments of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were registered in the name of the wife of Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif.

The apartments of Muhammad Sinwar, brother of Hamas head Yahya Sinwar, were found to have been received from UNRWA and rented to Palestinians, according to military intelligence. They also found documentation of Hamas operatives working for UNRWA.

They also found that the tunnels connecting Egypt and Gaza under the Philadelphi Corridor were apparently used to smuggle over 150 pickup trucks and more than 350 Chinese motorcycles which were used in the October 7 attacks.

50-meter deep, four-kilometer-long Hamas tunnel uncovered by Israeli soldiers (Photo: IDF)

Lt. Col. (res.) Amit Yagur, a former senior official in the IDF’s Planning Division and Naval Intelligence, recently told Maariv that the war against Hamas is changing.

“We are now at a turning point in the campaign,” Yagur told Maariv. “Hamas has not been defeated or retreated, but it is clear that its position is changing.”

Yagur said that previously Hamas was in a position of power, but it now appears to have a weaker position as a result of military pressure.

In his opinion, the prolonged war “severely damaged Hamas’ human and other reservoirs,” especially the takeover of the Philadelphi Route. He said “it’s a serious mistake that we didn’t take it over from January.”