IDF Closes in on Key Hamas Strongholds in Gaza City Ahead of Trump-Netanyahu Meeting

Latest Developments

IDF Tightens Vise on Hamas’s Stronghold: More than six weeks after Israel approved a ground operation in Gaza City, IDF tanks were reported operating in the Sabra, Tel Al-Hawa, Sheikh Radwan, and Al-Naser neighborhoods on September 28, closing in on the heart and western areas of the city. The IDF reported killing dozens of terrorists, including one who attempted to plant an explosive near an Israeli armored personnel carrier. More than 750,000 people — or 75 percent of the city’s residents — have reportedly heeded the IDF’s evacuation orders to leave the city despite threats by Hamas. The IDF and Shin Bet also reported killing Hassan Mahmoud Hassan Hussein in an airstrike. Hussein was Hamas’s Nukhba company commander in the Bureij Battalion in the Central Camps Brigade, who on October 7, 2023, co-led Hamas’s brutal massacre in the bomb shelter on Route 232 in Re’im and participated in the abduction of Israeli civilians.
Hamas Claims Contact with Two Hostages Lost: Hamas claimed that it had lost contact with two hostages seized nearly two years prior during the IDF’s advances and bombardment of the city, calling for a 24-hour suspension of airstrikes and a halt to local ground operations. The IDF did not directly respond to Hamas’s request; instead, it issued further evacuation orders to all Gaza City residents, including those in the Sabra district, in anticipation of further operations against Hamas terrorists in the area.
Safe Passage and Amnesty Under Consideration: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on September 29 to discuss the Trump administration’s post-war framework. Netanyahu repeated his offer of safe passage for Hamas members if all 48 hostages are released and Hamas surrenders. Leaks from the Trump administration’s ceasefire plan suggest that it could include post-war amnesty for Hamas members who renounce terrorism.

FDD Expert Response:

“Even as a new U.S. vision for Middle East peace is being devised, Israel is acting on the ground to make this vision likelier. That entails continuing to crush Hamas in its de facto capital. If the stars align and a post-war reality is declared in the around 90 percent of the Gaza Strip now under Israeli control, we could see, in parallel, a slow strangulation of the Palestinian terrorists in the remaining 10 percent. The Israelis have skillfully slow-tracked this Gaza City sweep to ratchet up pressure on Hamas in parallel to the U.S. diplomatic outreach to Arab and Islamic powers.” — Mark Dubowitz, CEO

“Predictably, Hamas has continued its propaganda campaign around the hostages, now claiming it has lost contact with two of them. The group has openly admitted to placing hostages in Gaza City neighborhoods with the explicit aim of forcing the IDF into a dilemma: either advance the invasion and risk the hostages’ lives or halt the operation altogether. In doing so, Hamas has deliberately engineered the conditions in which hostages could be harmed. Ultimately, if any hostage suffers injury or death, the responsibility lies squarely with Hamas.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal