Hamas has tried to leverage the hostages for the last 700 days to get off the hook for the war they started. As the IDF begins its “decisive” mission to capture Gaza City, the terrorists apparently decided to give their usually successful strategy one last try. Their propaganda arm has released proof-of-life videos taken within the last few days of two Israelis held by Hamas terrorists, in which they claim to be held in Gaza City:
The family of Hamas-held hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal has authorized the publication of part of a video posted by the terror group today showing him in captivity.
In the 28-second clip, Gilboa-Dalal says the date is August 28, 2025, and that he is being held by Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza City.
Gilboa-Dalal is shown with short hair, wearing a dark blue shirt, and displaying expressions of distress, placing his face in his hands. In part of the video, he appears to be sitting in the backseat of a car aboveground.
In remarks likely dictated to him by his captors, he pleads for his release.
The family of the second hostage in the videos has not approved the release of the footage. It’s the first time that Hamas has ever offered proof that Alon Ohel is still alive, though, which seems significant. The terrorists want to manipulate the families to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu to withdraw from Gaza and end the war on whatever terms Hamas can still get while remaining in power.
Time is running out on that strategy, however. The IDF declared today that they already control 40% of Gaza City, and that’s without the expected main military operation to sack it. They are already looking at key targets in the remaining 60%, especially the modern high-rises where Hamas has embedded command and control operations, as well as tactical defense materiel and personnel:
The IDF announces that in the coming days it will carry out targeted strikes against multi-story buildings in Gaza City that Hamas has converted into military infrastructure, confirming Defense Minister Israel Katz’s earlier comments.
Alongside that announcement, media outlets in Gaza report that the IDF struck the Al-Mushtaha tower in Gaza City three times. Footage shows a heavy cloud of smoke at the site, after residents were called to evacuate. It is unclear whether there were any casualties in the incident. The IDF has yet to comment on the strike.
According to the military’s announcement, intelligence has revealed that Hamas has embedded sniper and anti-tank positions, surveillance systems, command-and-control centers and observation posts inside residential buildings, while also planting explosives nearby to ambush Israeli forces. Additionally, the terror group’s tunnels are said to run beneath and around these buildings.
The IDF says these sites pose a direct threat to its troops as operations in Gaza City expand, and therefore will be struck soon.
Video of the demolition of the Al-Mushtaha tower is already making the rounds on social media:
There she goes. Bye bye https://t.co/O67i1nvdTo pic.twitter.com/v13xbDhHwK
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) September 5, 2025
In other words, the Israelis aren’t playing by the old rules with Hamas. They are fighting a war to the finish. The IDF will not go into urban combat with the intention of preserving infrastructure at the risk of their own troops, as in past conflicts. This time, they mean to end the 19-year war with Hamas in a way that provides them the annihilation they hoped to dish out.
That puts Hamas in an even tighter corner. They apparently assumed they would be fighting the last war, a mistake in a conflict they started with a deliberate and grossly escalated series of atrocities. They now find themselves fighting in a different war, one which their own actions forced Israel to adopt new doctrines and to choose a total-war outcome over any more accommodation. If they planned to stop the Israelis in street fighting, they just discovered that the Israelis have no problem removing the streets and the buildings ahead of the final thrust.
If Hamas has any second thoughts about fighting to the death, they don’t have much time left to express them. Israeli defense minister Israel Katz declared today that the IDF will not halt the main offensive once it steps off:
The IDF will intensify its activity in Gaza City until Hamas agrees to end the war on Israel’s terms, Defense Minister Israel Katz stated on Friday.
He added that Israel has issued an evacuation notice to a “multi-story terror building in Gaza City.”
“Once the door opens, it will not close, and IDF activity will intensify until the Hamas murderers and rapists accept Israel’s conditions to end the war, foremost among them the release of all the hostages and disarmament, or they will be destroyed.”
This is what war looks like. Hamas wanted a war, started a war, and now they have two choices to end the war: total destruction or total capitulation. And even that choice has an expiration date.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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