Over the past day, Hamas released videos showing hostages Itay Svirsky, Noa Argamani, and another hostage, whose family requested that he not be named.
The IDF has also eliminated two out of Hamas's five brigade-level commanders, the army announced. In addition, 19 battalion-level commanders and 50 company commanders were killed.
Israel's Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant held an operational situation assessment in the IDF's (Israel Defence Forces) Judea and Samaria Division, together with the Head of the IDF's Central Command Major General Yehuda Fox
s Israelis prepared to mark 100 days of captivity for the hostages abducted by Hamas on Sunday, the Israel Defence Forces said soldiers destroyed launch pits used by Hamas to fire rockets at Israel.
Without fanfare, the Israel Defense Forces is transitioning from phase 2 in the war against Hamas--the high-intensity stage of surging ground forces throughout Gaza--to phase 3, involving far more targeted operations, with a focus on the south of the strip.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, more than 2,650 wanted terrorists have been arrested throughout Judea and Samaria and the Jordan and Valley areas, approximately 1,300 of whom are associated with the terrorist organisation Hamas.
Hamas "opted to invest precious resources in building terrorist infrastructure used to harm Israeli civilians and IDF forces, while cynically exploiting the civilian population in the Gaza Strip," the military statement said.
In the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, an Israeli fighter jet struck a Hamas military compound and killed seven terrorists. One of the terrorists killed was a commander in Hamas's elite Nukhba force who took part in the massacre of Israelis in Gaza-area communities on October 7.