IDF builds secret northern Gaza outpost that will stop future Hamas invasions

The Jerusalem Post visited a new, secluded IDF outpost dubbed "Israela," built to prevent any future potential invasion from the Gaza Strip.

Returning to the Gaza Strip for the sixth time, in addition to countless other trips to the South in general, and for the first time since the IDF shifted gears in May to taking control over 75% of it, brought into contrast a number of paradoxical issues.

The Jerusalem Post was visiting a new secret IDF position in Northern Gaza, dubbed “Israela,” which is designed both to project power and serve as an additional forward defense line to prevent any potential invasion from getting anywhere near residential Israel.

The position, along with two other nearby positions, gives a unique strategic high-ground view of Beit Hanun, Beit Lahiya, Jabalya, and Gaza City in the distance.

At a professional military level, Lt.-Col. (res.) T., commander of Battalion 969, said he was proud of the hard work that his unit had invested in building the new position. He is focused on taking the fight to Hamas terrorists in Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.

Battalion 969 is part of the Northern Gaza Brigade and Division 99, led by Brig.-Gen. Barak Hiram.

T said it took his forces a few weeks to build; this was a few months after they had defeated Hamas forces in the area.

He also declined any terminology of defining the position as part of an anticipated Israeli perimeter, following an IDF withdrawal from deeper parts of Gaza. He said he hoped the political echelon would support his battalion holding the position for the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, many soldiers at the new position said they understood Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas could announce a new ceasefire any day, including unpredictable IDF withdrawals. Such questions were out of their hands, they said.

Furthermore, they understood that their job in the meantime was to maintain the military pressure on Hamas to advance efforts to defeat any nearby Hamas forces, as well as to enhance the chances of the terrorist group returning more Israeli hostages.

'Their cemeteries are full of people [Hamas commanders] who thought they were irreplaceable'

The IDF was asked about Hamas’s recent large-scale ambush of IDF soldiers in Beit Hanun and whether this was part of a broader trend.

Capt. A., deputy commander of a company, said: “Like us, Hamas understands that there are movements toward a ceasefire… There is some additional daring from their side to create a picture of success, which is not good for our forces. The opposite is also true. Our forces also understand this and will not give them this picture and will present a different picture, our victorious picture.”

“We are reducing their [leadership] to being a less experienced group,” he said. “Their cemeteries are full of [Hamas commanders] who thought they were irreplaceable.”

At a personal level, I questioned how and why I could once again be driving toward large plumes of smoke erupting from Gaza, 21 months after I first did so, visiting Be’eri on October 11, 2023.

Wasn’t Hamas’s last battalion defeated in Rafah in the June-August 2024 period, and wasn’t Hamas’s last northern Gaza battalion defeated by January 2024?

And yet, during my visit in Gaza, I saw about a dozen explosions or smoke from explosions from a mix of fighting Hamas’s reconstituted forces in Beit Hanun and from blowing up more of Hamas’s endless maze of tunnels.

In March 2024, the IDF announced that it had destroyed 85% of Hamas’s strategic tunnels in Khan Yunis after three months of fighting there – meaning about 20 km. out of a total of 140 km. of tunnels.

Since then, the IDF has destroyed far more tunnels, but those numbers illustrate the challenge.

IDF sources said it seemed that all or nearly all of the strategic Hamas tunnels – containing weapons factories, senior officials, and intelligence and communications centers – had been destroyed, and that most tunnels being found and destroyed in Beit Hanun or Beit Lahiya these days are much smaller tactical maneuvering tunnels.

“We are destroying many tunnels in Beit Hanun, but the destruction takes time,” A. said. “You need to locate them, then take them over, then blow them up… we are doing it every night.”

The IDF recently said it has been trying to surround and corner a group of about a dozen Hamas fighters in the Beit Hanun area who are hiding underground, occasionally popping out to fire a rocket-propelled grenade or to plant an improvised explosive device (IED) to ambush Israeli soldiers.

“We are in conflict with dozens of terrorists in the area, an area of combat,” T. said. “But we are pushing them southward and backward into their [small remaining] territory [that is under their control] every day. Every action, every bomb, every sign of smoke that you see… exposes and definitively pushes the enemy backward.”

“We are not standing on the goal line to defend; rather, our defense is forward on the other side [inside previous Hamas territory] of the field,” he added. “Looking from our side, we can see all of Beit Hanun and see all that is left there.”

Not far away from Beit Hanun and easily within visual range are Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz, Sderot, and other Israeli villages, T. said, and “any soldiers stationed here know and see exactly what they are protecting, and they know who they are up against.”

“You see many bombs and explosions,” he said. “We are working hard on Beit Hanun” against Hamas.

During his briefing on the Gaza areas that can be observed from the position, T. pointed out a water facility in the Beit Hanun area.

He said the new position was crucial strategically for thwarting any attempts by Hamas to approach the Israeli border.

The Post had traveled through the Beit Hanun area at earlier points in the war, when large portions of it were destroyed, but significant portions, possibly as much as 30%-50%, were still standing.

During the visit on Thursday, only about 5% of Beit Hanun appeared to be still standing, showing how much additional fighting between Israel and Hamas in recent months has brought down what was left of Beit Hanun into additional piles of rubble.

“When the enemy has nowhere [no place] to return to, there is no way to return,” T. said.

Destroying structures also makes it much harder for Hamas to make any unexposed movements above ground, he added.

Right now, any Palestinian civilians in the area – possibly as many as one million in the Gaza City area – are about two km. away, so anyone who comes close to this position is presumed to be a fighter who can be targeted.

As with Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon, if large quantities of Palestinian civilians do not return to places too close to the Israeli border, it will be harder for Hamas to return.

In contrast, since Gaza is much smaller and narrower than Lebanon, if more Gazans returned all the way up to the border, it would make it harder to prevent Hamas from returning, concealed within the civilian population.

All the reservists the Post spoke to had a mixed message regarding the status of reservists showing up for duty, with most of them on their fourth round of reserve duty since the October 7 massacre.

Most of their service has been in the Beit Hanun and Beit Lahiya areas of northern Gaza, with one round in the West Bank.

On the one hand, those at the IDF position said they were highly motivated to serve as long as necessary to defeat Hamas.

On the other hand, they acknowledged that they have had to show an increasing level of understanding for those reservists who have stopped showing up for duty due to job issues, family issues, university education, or general or ideological exhaustion.

In the meantime, officers T., A., and others said they would continue to try to corner and batter Hamas as long as the order stands.•