The Times of Israel June 9, 2025
A city of booby traps, tunnels;

After recovering the bodies of slain hostages Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein in Khan Younis on Wednesday night, Israeli forces continued to push deeper into the city in the southern Gaza Strip, intensifying operations aimed at reaching its center.

The Kfir Brigade has been operating in southern Khan Younis for the past three weeks, working in close coordination with the Israeli Air Force IAF combat engineers from the elite Yahalom unit, and other forces. Their mission: to reach the city’s center and establish operational control.

Now entering its 20th month, the war has left Khan Younis in ruins — a shattered landscape almost unrecognizable from what it once was;
The Israel Defense Forces IDF last operated deep in Khan Younis with ground troops in April 2024.

The extended deployments in Gaza are not without strain. Troops typically serve two weeks inside Gaza, followed by four days out — a rotation that offers brief relief but continues to weigh heavily on soldiers and their families.

Originally Posted by Capri
Arrogant and irresponsible IDF soldiers frown left so many markers on social media that Hamas invaders on October 7 had a complete breakdown of nearly every unit, sub-unit, and building within the Nahal Oz IDF base when they overwhelmed it, killed 53 soldiers, and took 10 hostage on October 7, 2023.

In most standing army units, including the Shimshon Battalion, phones are not allowed inside the Strip — Better than Never — limiting communication to a single weekly call, typically on Fridays before Shabbat.

To maintain a semblance of connection, certain commanders run shared WhatsApp groups with families, offering sparse but critical updates — a digital lifeline for those waiting anxiously for their loved ones at home.