Avi Ohayon / Government Press Office of Israel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons ; Screenshot / YouTube, The Telegraph, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday said Hamas terrorists captured by troops said “the group is collapsing from within” as Israel steps up its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. 

“In the last week or two, hundreds of terrorists have been captured and what they say about what happened to them tells the whole story. They say that Hamas is collapsing from within, the price they are paying is very heavy,” Gallant said, according to The Times of Israel.  

“We’re going to eliminate everyone who was involved in the events of October 7, the junior [officials], the senior ones and the very senior ones; those who were inside [Israel] or who gave instructions,” he said, 

October 7 was the date of Palestinian terror group Hamas’s massive attack on Israel that kicked off the ongoing conflict. On that day, approximately 1200 Israeli citizens and foreign residents of the nation were killed, and hundreds more were taken hostage, according to Reuters. Some of those hostages are reportedly still under Hamas captivity.

Over the weekend, the Israeli Defense Force said that its troops seized a cache of weapons hidden in the maternity ward of Shifa Hospital, where a raid on the facility targeting Hamas terrorists was in its third week. 

Hidden inside patient pillows and beds were weapons including mortars, explosive devices, sniper rifles, assault rifles, handguns and other military equipment, according to the IDF.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also vowed to invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, despite increasing concerns from the Biden administration about Israeli military operations and mounting civilian casualties. 

Netanyahu said that he had approved the IDF’s “operational plan” for Rafah, saying the force was “prepared for the evacuation of the civilian population and for the provision of humanitarian assistance.”

“This is the right thing both operationally and internationally,” he said. “This will take time but it will be done. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there for one simple reason: There is no victory without entering Rafah and there is no victory without eliminating the Hamas battalions there.” 

Netanyahu has said that victory cannot be attained without a ground offensive in Rafah. However, more than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million is now sheltered there after fleeing fighting elsewhere. 

Netanyahu and Biden’s respective administrations were set to hold a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss the Rafah offensive plans. Netanyahu had canceled a previous set of in-person meetings with a high-level delegation after the U.S. abstained from a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. 

After the vote, Netanyahu’s office claimed that the United States had “abandoned its policy in the UN today,” calling the decision to abstain “a clear departure from the consistent US position in the Security Council since the beginning of the war.”

The White House has said a military operation in Rafah could result in mass civilian casualties and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the region. Furthermore, there are concerns that Israel’s continued military offensive could lead to irreparable damage to their reputation amongst the international community.