Senior IDF officials said on Thursday that the military has managed to effect the collapse of Hamas' Rafah Brigade. The officials cited the commander of the 162nd Division which has been operating in the area for the past few months. IDF officials also say that up to now 80% of the tunnels in the Philadelphi Corridor have been destroyed.
In recent days, the IDF noticed that terrorists had begun to flee from underground complexes to the humanitarian area and therefore set up ambushes to stop them. During one such activity, Staff Sergeant Amit Friedman was killed. During that confrontation the soldiers eliminated terrorists.
Earlier in the day, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari spoke with commanders and soldiers who rescued the hostage Farhan al-Qadi and revealed on Thursday for the first time that he was rescued from the heart of Rafah.
Hagari told one of the commanders, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Adom, the commander of the 162nd Division's Bedouin trackers: "I think about you and I get excited, yesterday you rescued a living hostage from a tunnel in the heart of Rafah and discovered that it's Farhan from Rahat.
Adom responded: "My excitement didn't stop from the beginning of the operation until Farhan reached his family."