The countdown to big business at Gaza tunnelwhere Hamas members have taken refuge and are moving in and out of Gaza City, has begun for the Israeli army.

The Israelis reportedly have a specific plan to neutralize its armed forces Hamas inside the maze of tunnels in Gaza City and it is now a matter of time before it is activated.

Israeli forces have surrounded Gaza from all directions and are advancing ever deeper into the city center. The aim, it seems, is to trap the Hamas members in the tunnels, without water or food and force them to release the hostages and either surrender themselves or force a disorderly exit from the galleries, where they will be confronted with the forces of the Israeli army.

On Monday, the Gaza front was found the commander of the Southern Command of the Israeli army, Lt. Gen. Yarom Finkelman, who inspected the forces and the situation recorded in the Hamas tunnel network. The head of the Mechanized Combat Corps, General Ido Mizrahi, also participated in the assessment, who analyzed all the information his soldiers have gathered about the Hamas galleries in Gaza.

Everything indicates that the next stage of the Israeli army’s military operation will soon begin, with a twofold objective: First, the containment and destruction of the Hamas tunnels, this time inside the residential fabric of Gaza, and second, the “occupation” of the city until its center, with the final target apparently being the Hamas command post, which, according to the IDF, is under Al Shifa Hospital.

Former head of Israel’s National Security Council: The operation in Al Shifa is inevitable

A televised interview by the former head of Israel’s National Security Council, Yora Eiland, caused a sensation, who argued that it is “inevitable” to conduct an operation by the Israeli army on the premises of the Al Shifa hospital, under which there is – according to the IDF – an operations center of Hamas and labyrinthine tunnels used as a base by militants of the Palestinian Islamist organization.

In an interview with Channel 12 television, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Yora Island expressed the hope that the US would support such an operation by the Israeli army even if it cost the lives of thousands of civilians. On the occasion of CIA chief Bill Burns’ visit to Israel today, Eiland said: “I hope they explain it to him. And if there is a will to take military action at (hospital) Al Shifa, which I see as inevitable, I hope the head of the CIA receives an explanation as to why it is necessary and why the U.S. should ultimately support such an operation, even if there are subsequently thousands of dead bodies of civilians in the streets”.

The US is “struggling to understand that Gaza is not Mosul… It is the most well-fortified location in human history, with advanced Iranian technology and billions invested,” he argued.

He emphasizes that the message must be clear: “This is what happens to those responsible for massacres in the state of Israel.” In the Middle East, says Island, respect is earned by those who “know how to wield power and have no qualms about doing so.”

Neither more nor less, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Eiland refused to separate Hamas members from the civilians in Gaza, whom he attributes a share of responsibility for the October 7 attack on Israel. “Gaza is very much a Nazi state, in which (Hamas) has managed to recruit all of society in its fight against Israel. Almost every house in Gaza has a hatch that leads to underground tunnels. These are private residences. All hospital and school directors are Hamas employees… (Gaza residents) are rallying around the (Hamas) leadership, not against it,” he claimed.