Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed directly to Hamas militants Sunday, urging them not to sacrifice their lives to protect the Palestinian faction’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar but rather surrender to advancing Israeli forces instead.
In a video address as the military offensive ravages Gaza, Netanyahu said dozens of Hamas members have already laid down arms seeing the group’s imminent collapse amid sustained IDF strikes. He labeled it “the beginning of the end of Hamas.”
“It’s over. Don’t die for Sinwar. Surrender now,” Netanyahu proclaimed, seeking to deter die-hard loyalists defending the Islamist rulers and commanders underground as Israel intensifies its hunt for tunnels and weapons sites.
An unnamed senior IDF officer also observed Sunday that “signs of Hamas breaking” are evident on the ground as command structures shred under unrelenting bombardment. He confirmed over half of the regional battalion leaders have been eliminated.
But the officer cautioned the end of hostilities remains elusive despite the disarray, with soldiers continuing intensive operations to methodically smash Hamas’s military apparatus threatening Israeli security.
The prime minister’s direct appeal reflects Israel’s psychological toolkit to complement kinetic warfare as it seeks to convince cornered militants, especially young recruits, that Hamas is fighting a losing war of attrition.
The call to lay down arms serves simultaneous purposes — shake fighters’ faith in leadership while inducing defections, and underline the heavy-handed scale of IDF’s strikes severely degrading morale and position.
Israel trims the wings of Hamas with each passing day. But Netanyahu hopes targeted messaging brings the fight to a swifter halt, given the rising toll being paid by Gazans used as human shields.
