IDF Chief: 'Hamas Losing Control'

Tuesday, 3 June 2025 | Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Sunday ordered ground troops to intensify operations in the Gaza Strip, aiming to create conditions for the return of the remaining 58 hostages and the decisive defeat of Hamas. 

“We are in the midst of a powerful and relentless operation—thanks to you, Hamas is losing control,” Zamir told troops during a field tour of southern Gaza. “We eliminated the mass murderer Mohammed Sinwar, and to all the other perpetrators of October 7, we are sending a clear message: Your day will come.” 

The IDF on Saturday confirmed that it had killed Sinwar, the head of the terrorist organization’s “military wing,” in a May 13 strike in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza. 

Sinwar was the brother of Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of the terror group who was slain by Israeli ground forces on October 16, 2024. 

“The IDF continues to hold and clear wide areas of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure,” Zamir continued. “The effort is ongoing in all arenas, according to a structured plan and at an adjusted pace—until all of the operation’s objectives are achieved: the return of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas’s governing capabilities and military wing.” 

Earlier on Sunday, the military confirmed that it had killed Khalil Abd al-Nasser Muhammad Khatib, a senior Hamas terrorist responsible for an attack that killed 21 Israeli troops on January 22, 2024. 

A total of 24 soldiers died in two separate Hamas attacks that day, the deadliest day for the army since it launched the ground invasion in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre. 

At Zamir’s direction, the IDF’s “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” is ramping up in Gaza, with the Israeli Air Force striking dozens of terror targets over the past 24 hours. The strikes have hit Hamas operatives, booby-trapped structures, underground tunnels, and sniper and anti-tank missile firing positions. 

“In recent weeks the reality on the ground in Gaza has begun to shift. The continued dismantling of Hamas’s military, governmental and civil infrastructure has created a new strategic environment,” Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Yitzhak Kroizer told JNS on Monday. 

“I do not believe in negotiating with terrorist organizations. Hamas has proven time and again that it is not a partner for any agreement—only a cynical actor exploiting talks to regroup and rearm,” he continued. 

“It is now clear: Only overwhelming and sustained military pressure will lead to the release of the hostages,” he added. 

As Hamas collapses, Kroizer said, those actually holding the hostages may be incentivized to surrender them in exchange for safe passage or personal gain.

The complete destruction of the terrorist group was not an obstacle to freeing the hostages but the key to it, he emphasized. 

“At this stage, our objective must be clear: intensify military pressure, reassert full Israeli control over the Gaza Strip, establish Jewish communities, apply Israeli sovereignty and encourage the voluntary emigration of hostile elements,” he said. 

“This is the only path that can guarantee enduring security for the residents of the south—and for all Israelis,” he continued. “The outcome must deliver an unmistakable message across the region: massacring Jews comes at an unbearable cost. Those who commit atrocities against Israeli civilians will not only lose power—they will lose any future in this land.”