On 99th day of war, IDF chief says military pressure is key to freeing more hostages
Halevi says honest probe of Oct. 7 failures is ‘lifeblood’ of the army; IDF eliminates Hamas gunmen, foils rocket launches, strikes command post; 187th soldier killed in fighting
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said in a press statement in southern Israel Saturday night that only military pressure would bring about the return of more hostages from Gaza.
With the war against Hamas set to reach its 100-day mark Sunday, Halevi said the Israel Defense Forces was “acting via all means, mostly covert, in order to bring back [the hostages] and will continue to do so until we return them all.”
To “bring about real results, we must continue to operate in the enemy’s territory and not allow attempts [by Hamas] to reach a ceasefire through blackmail.
“Hamas leadership is pinning its hopes on a cessation of hostilities and is convinced that this moment is near… In order to dismantle Hamas, we need to have patience,” Halevi continued.
Saying that forces operating in Gaza were continuing to uncover “an actual military industry,” he vowed the IDF “will continue to attack, pursue and destroy.”
On Saturday, the IDF said it thwarted planned Hamas rocket launches, took out a command center used by the terror group and eliminated multiple cells of gunmen operating in the enclave.

It also confirmed the death of an Israeli soldier killed Friday in central Gaza, bringing the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas to 187. He was named as Master Sgt. (res.) Dan Wajdenbaum, 24, of the Yiftah Brigade’s 5037th Battalion, from Ra’anana.
On his decision to launch an investigation into the military’s failures that enabled the October 7 disaster to occur, even before the end of the war, Halevi said Saturday: “Honest investigation is the lifeblood of an army… Of course, an operational investigation does not replace an external inspection or investigation. We understand that the war will continue for a long time, and so we’ve started planning the structure of the investigations.
“We must begin to understand what happened, in order to better protect the residents of the [Gaza border communities] and in order to know how to ensure that this day will not be repeated.”
Operations throughout the Strip
Troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade in the central Gaza Strip located two Hamas rocket launching sites over the weekend, with projectiles prepared for imminent launch, the IDF said.
Troops of the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade operating in the central Gaza Strip located two Hamas rocket launching sites, with projectiles prepared for launch in the immediate time-frame, the IDF says.
Footage shared by the IDF shows the launchers being destroyed, with at… pic.twitter.com/EqtISYz5pt
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 13, 2024
Footage shared by the IDF showed the launchers being destroyed, with at least one of the rockets flying out due to the blast.
The IDF said operations continue in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, with the 7th Armored Brigade destroying a Hamas tunnel shaft in a building used as a weapons depot.
The 7th Brigade killed several Hamas gunmen with tank shelling in the area, the IDF added.
Also in Khan Younis, the army said the Paratroopers Brigade spotted Hamas gunmen opening fire from a building and fleeing. It said the soldiers called in an airstrike, killing one of the operatives, while the second fled to another building, where he was later killed by another aircraft.
In northern Gaza, where the IDF said it has defeated Hamas’s organized fighting forces, troops of the 401st Armored Brigade located and destroyed a number of rocket launching positions in the al-Atatra neighborhood, according to the military.
The IDF released footage showing the identification of a cell of Hamas operatives armed with RPGs and assault rifles in the central Gaza Strip, and a subsequent airstrike carried out against them.
According to the IDF, troops of the 179th Reserve Armored Brigade spotted the Hamas cell and ambushed them.
The IDF releases footage showing the identification of a cell of Hamas operatives armed with RPGs and assault rifles in the central Gaza Strip, and a subsequent airstrike carried out against them.
According to the IDF, troops of the 179th Reserve Armored Brigade spotted the… pic.twitter.com/gQ0DQaNuC6
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 13, 2024
After the cell entered a structure the IDF said was being used as a command center, the reservists called in an airstrike, killing the fighters and destroying the building.
The military also released footage of an IDF drone eliminating a terror squad in northern Gaza.
The video showed the drone approaching and then attacking the floor of the building where the gunmen were hiding.
War erupted between Israel and Hamas after the terror group’s October 7 massacres, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages — mostly civilians.
Vowing to destroy the terror group, Israel launched a wide-scale military campaign in Gaza, which the Hamas-run health ministry has said killed over 23,000 people since. These figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires. The IDF says it has killed over 8,500 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Several hostages freed in a ceasefire deal in late November described being held inside tunnels, which Hamas has dug throughout the Gaza Strip and which Israel says have long been used to smuggle weapons and fighters throughout the enclave.
It is believed that 132 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during the late November truce. Four hostages were released prior to that, and one was rescued by troops. The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. The Israel Defense Forces has confirmed the deaths of 25 of those still held by Hamas, citing intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.
Israel also believes that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is hiding in a tunnel somewhere in Khan Younis.
Winter rains have exacerbated the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN estimates 1.9 million — nearly 85 percent of the population — have been displaced. Many have sought shelter in Rafah and other southern areas.
Fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals are partly functioning, the World Health Organization has said.
Citizens running away from Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital because tanks are getting close! #CeaseFireInGaza pic.twitter.com/ayRIOWMnaC
— Ahmed El-Madhoun from #Gaza (@madhoun95) January 13, 2024
Footage circulating online Saturday showed Palestinians fleeing the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza after Palestinian reports said IDF tanks were spotted near the medical center.
A lack of fuel has forced the shutdown of the main generator of the hospital, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
At the same time, Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the territory’s main hospital that had been shut down since November, has begun partially functioning again, the WHO said Friday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said his organization has delivered 9,300 liters (2,460 gallons) of fuel to Shifa, allowing a 60-person medical team to begin treating more than 1,000 patients.
The military has found Hamas tunnels under Gaza’s hospitals — including Shifa — and has said the terror group used the medical facilities as command centers, issuing images and footage of the underground network.