Press Briefing by IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari December 5th, 20:15

Good evening. 

We are on the sixtieth day of the war. IDF soldiers are currently fighting in Khan Yunis, the Hamas stronghold in the southern Gaza Strip. The military wing of Hamas consists of two dominant regional brigades that serve as the strongholds for the terrorist organization. These are the Gaza City Brigade and the Khan Yunis Brigade. Our forces are advancing in dismantling Hamas' military capabilities. The four battalions of the Khan Yunis Brigade have established terrorist infrastructure both above and below ground throughout the area. The terrorists from Khan Yunis played a significant role in the terrorist attack on October 7th, where they infiltrated Israeli territory, committed a massacre, and returned to the heart of Khan Yunis. We are determined to eliminate the terrorists and damage their infrastructure as we did in the Northern Gaza Strip. 

In parallel to the fighting in southern Gaza, the battle continues in the north. Our forces are engaged in the strongholds in the heart of Jabalia and Shuja'iyya. In each of these strongholds, integrated attacks from land and air are being carried out, and underground infrastructures are being destroyed. Many terrorists are being killed in face-to-face combat, and weaponry is being located. It's important to understand that we also release our own videos from the field. When our forces move within the area and clear the space, we encounter and kill terrorists. This is how we operate in clearing the area, and this will also be done in Jabalia, Shuja'iyya, and Khan Yunis.

Overall, since the beginning of the war, we have attacked over 20,000 targets across the Gaza Strip. Today, we will release special footage from a Hamas tunnel of the senior members of the Northern Brigade prior to the war. Most of those present in this photo have been eliminated, from the head of the brigade, Rendor, to other senior figures in the photo. This documentation demonstrates Hamas's use of terrorist infrastructures beneath civilian infrastructures, and additionally proves the IDF's effective strikes against the organization's senior figures in the northern Gaza Strip. This is documentation that we bring from the field, along with additional materials that we are collecting, revealing how Hamas built its operational system within the civilian medium, using civilians as human shields. We reached and killed these senior figures in their underground facilities.

In the north, IAF combat aircraft attacked a series of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon today, including posts and military sites where weapons were stored and terrorists of the organization operated. The Chief of the General Staff visited the Southern Command headquarters of the fighting today and said that although we are focused on Gaza, where the hostages are held, we are also engaged in an ongoing operational effort aimed at improving the situation on the northern border. We are working on this around the clock and attacked in Lebanon today for this purpose.

On the home front, I call on the public to continue to be vigilant and to follow the updated instructions, as they save lives. We see the importance also due to the missile interception debris in various areas of the country. It is important to follow the guidelines. Our enemies still have capabilities, even if more limited. There is capability, one must not become complacent.

138 hostages, abducted on October 7th, are still being held in Gaza. I say 138 because today we determined that one of the missing persons, based on intelligence information we have, is defined as a hostage. It is our moral duty to bring back all the hostages home and to continue this effort at all times.