‘Dead men walking’: Israel closes in on Hamas leaders as war in Gaza Strip continues

As Israel warns it is closing in on senior Hamas leaders, the current PM has copped a broadside from his predecessor.

A satellite image shows some of the damage in Gaza City. Picture: Maxar Technologies/AFP

The former prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, has escalated his criticism of current leader Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him “Mr Bulls***” and “a danger” to the country.

Mr Olmert, 78, led Israel from 2006 to 2009. Speaking to Politico, he said Mr Netanyahu had “shrunk” in the wake of Hamas’s attack on October 7.

“He’s destroyed emotionally, that’s for sure. I mean, something terrible happened to him,” the former prime minister said.

“Bibi has been working all his life on the false pretence that he is Mr Security. He’s Mr Bulls***. Every minute he is Prime Minister he is a danger to Israel. I seriously mean it. I am certain the Americans understand he is in bad shape.”

Mr Olmert argued it would be a misguided idea to maintain control over the Gaza Strip after the current conflict.

“It’s not in Israel’s interests to oversee the security of Gaza,” he said.

“It is in our interests to be able to defend ourselves in a different way than we did before the October 7 attack. But to control Gaza again? No.”

According to Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas, the Palestinian death toll has risen to 10,569, 4324 of whom are children.

Those figures have not been independently verified.

Meanwhile Israel has warned that Hamas’s leaders are “dead men walking” as it continues to scale up its operations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: Debbie Hill/AFP

Hamas leaders are ‘dead men walking’

Speaking to Laura Jayes on Sky News Australia, a spokesman for the Israeli military has described Hamas’s leaders as “dead men walking”.

“The mission is to engage with Hamas and simply to dismantle and each every Hamas stronghold that is buried underground in bunkers. We are doing that in slow and meticulous order, according to the plan. Our advances are good and solid,” said Jonathan Conricus.

“It is a very challenging battlespace to be in. Hamas has prepared the battlefield, unfortunately, very well. And it is totally enmeshed with tunnels. Many of them short tactical tunnels that are just basically fighting positions, that allow Hamas to move from one ally to another. To emerge and then submerge.

“And some are longer and deeper and wider. But we are slowly getting to all of them and there are gains achieved each day of the fight.

“The directive is definitely to kill or capture all the leaders of Hamas. Those who planned, facilitated, and executed the murderous 7 October massacre in Israel. We’ve said so clearly. All of them are dead men walking.

“And it’s only a matter of time inside Gaza and outside of Gaza, until these Hamas leaders will either be captured or killed by Israel.”

Refreshing questions actually pertaining to the fighting and situation on the ground. We're making solid progress according to plan, and we intend to keep at it until we dismantle Hamas and return the hostages. With @ljayes on @SkyNewspic.twitter.com/Zdg8yW2wiT

— Jonathan Conricus (@jconricus) November 8, 2023

Israel to snub humanitarian conference

Israeli representatives will not participate at a “humanitarian conference” for Gaza in Paris on Thursday, which as been organised by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Like other governments, Israel nevertheless has “an interest in the humanitarian situation improving in Gaza”, an official in Mr Macron’s office, who asked not to be named, told reporters.

Mr Macron had spoken on Tuesday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the pair will talk again once the aid conference is over, the Elysee Palace added.

The French leader had also spoken to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

Both countries are playing a key role in attempts to bring more aid into the Gaza Strip.

Thursday’s aid conference had been put together in a hurry on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum on November 10-11, an annual event launched by Mr Macron.

Recent weeks have seen growing calls for humanitarian “pauses” or a full ceasefire to allow aid to enter Gaza and keep hopes alive of freeing the hostages.

International concern over the fate of Gaza’s civilians, most of whom cannot flee the sealed-off territory, has prompted calls for a ceasefire.

Sickening riches of Hamas leadership

While the people of Gaza suffer, Hamas’s leaders abroad are continuing to enjoy a lifestyle of sickening riches.

According to The New York Post, the terrorist group’s three top leaders alone are worth $US11 billion ($17 billion), and enjoy lives of luxury in Qater.

The emirate has long welcomed the leaders of Hamas and installed them in its luxury hotels and villas at the same time as hosting a vast American military presence.

Now US Congressman Andy Ogles, a Republican, is co-sponsoring a bill that would strip

Hamas runs an office in Qatar’s capital, Doha, where leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Moussa Abu Marzuk, and Khaled Mashal live.

Israel says Hamas leader trapped

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, has once again emphasised the nation’s determination “to destroy Hamas”.

“We are in the heart of Gaza City,” Mr Gallant said.

“Gaza is the largest terrorist base ever built by man. This whole city is one big terror base. Under the ground, kilometres of tunnels connect to hospitals, to schools, they are interconnected. It contains communication rooms, ammunition depots, places to sleep, and everything to serve as a base of terrorism from which the citizens of the state of Israel and IDF soldiers can be harmed.”

Israel said on Tuesday its forces were operating “in the heart of Gaza City” one month after Hamas’s bloody October 7 attacks, as the campaign to crush the Palestinian militants intensifies.

In a televised address from the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military had reached deeper into Gaza than Hamas ever imagined.

“In the south, the war is moving forward with force that Hamas has never seen,” he said, The Times of Israel reported. “Gaza City is surrounded. We are operating within it, we are deepening the pressure on Hamas every hour, every day.”

The PM said thousands of Hamas terrorists had been killed, both above and below ground, adding the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had destroyed “countless” Hamas command centres, positions and tunnels.

“Hamas is discovering that we are reaching places they thought we would never reach,” he said.

– with AFP