A senior IDF Southern Command officer said Wednesday that 245 Hamas operatives have been killed since Operation Roaring Lion began. The officer stated Hamas is an organization that must be destroyed, that ground units have established 40 new outposts inside the Gaza Strip, and that areas under Israeli control have been fully cleared both above and below ground.
A senior officer in the IDF Southern Command stated Wednesday evening that 245 Hamas operatives have been eliminated since the start of Operation Roaring Lion, the joint US-Israel campaign that began in February 2026. The officer, quoted by the non-denominational news outlet Yinon News, described Hamas as an organization that must be destroyed without dilemma, and said there is no scenario in which Israeli forces see an armed operative and fail to intercept him.
The officer detailed operational successes: Hamas ambush plots have ceased after forces dismantled them, operatives stopped using pickup trucks after vehicles were struck, and training activities stopped after fighters were killed during drills. He assessed that the risk of infiltration into Israel is very low, citing a trench and earthwork barrier built along the entire perimeter of the Strip.
According to the officer, Israeli forces have established 40 new outposts inside the Gaza Strip. In the approximately 60 percent of the territory now under Israeli control, he said, nothing remains — neither above ground nor below. The Zioneer archive shows the officer's comments align with a broader IDF pressure campaign across Gaza and Lebanon since early 2026; the 245 figure is the most detailed single-source operational count the desk has seen for the current operation.
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