Israel defeated the brigade of "Hamas" in the Rafah area in the southern part of Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said during a visit to the area near the border with Egypt, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
"The brigade (of "Hamas") in Rafah has been defeated and over 150 tunnels have been destroyed in the area," he said. Gallant added that he had instructed the military to focus on destroying the remaining tunnels along the border between the coastal enclave and Egypt.
In May, Israel advanced on Rafah despite widespread international criticism to destroy the remaining forces of the Palestinian Islamist movement in the area. About 1 million refugees had gathered there, but they have since left the city.
The Israeli troops also captured the border crossing "Rafah" to Egypt, known as the so-called Philadelphia Corridor. This 14-kilometer zone is considered one of the biggest contentious issues in the ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip, DPA notes.
US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about ways to make progress on a potential Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, the White House said, cited by Reuters and BTA .
The conversation followed US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's whirlwind trip to the Middle East, which ended on Tuesday without an agreement between Israel and the group "Hamas" for a truce in the Palestinian enclave.
Blinken and mediators from Egypt and Qatar pinned their hopes on the American effort to reduce the differences between the two sides in the 10-month war in Gaza.
"President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the ceasefire and hostage release agreement, as well as diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions," the White House said in a statement.< /p>
The conversation was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, who tomorrow will officially accept the Democratic nomination for presidential candidate for the November 5 election.
Biden is on a family vacation in California's Santa Ynez Valley.
Achieving a cease-fire agreement in Gaza is a top priority for Biden. A senior US official said on Friday that the talks were close to a deal, but that a final agreement was extremely difficult to achieve.
In negotiations to end fighting in the 10-month war, "Hamas" seeks a complete withdrawal of Israel from Gaza, including from the so-called Philadelphia Corridor - a narrow 14.5-kilometer stretch along the southern border of the coastal enclave with Egypt.
Israel wants to retain control of the corridor, which it seized in late May after destroying dozens of tunnels under it that it says were used to smuggle weapons to armed groups in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the head of Israel's military intelligence, Major General Aharon Haliva, officially left his post yesterday in a special ceremony, taking responsibility for the failure to guard Israel's border on October 7 last year, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
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Haliva - a veteran who served 38 years in the Israeli armed forces - announced his resignation back in April. He is one of several senior Israeli commanders who have said they failed to foresee and prevent the deadliest attack in Israel's history.
"The failure of the intelligence corps was my fault," Haliwa said at the ceremony and called for a national inquiry to be held "to look into" and "understand deeply" the reasons that led to the war between Israel and "Hamas".