Hamas says fighters still present in southern Israeli cities
Isabella Floyd
Published Apr 12, 2026
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say their focus is taking control of the Gaza Strip as the conflict enters a second day.
“The significant thing that preoccupies us right now is the stabilization of control in the Gaza Strip," IDF International Spokesperson, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, told a briefing Sunday.
“We have targets for the next 12 hours: to end the Gaza enclave. To control the entire enclave and kill all the terrorists in our territory,” Hecht said.
“We are probably going to try to evict certain communities in areas of Gaza. As the day goes on, we might evict people from certain areas of Gaza.”
The IDF said there are still eight “points of engagement” with Hamas militants in the south of the country.
Hecht told the briefing the IDF would "exact a very heavy price" by "attacking military infrastructure targets and all Hamas targets.”
Hecht added: “We are prepared with many forces with an emphasis on Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and the northern arena – to stop any event if there is an attack against us. We are prepared for disturbances or attempted attacks if there are any."
Hecht said the IDF had neutralized most of the significant battles that took place in the settlement of Otef, but there were still operations ongoing in Sderot, Kfar Gaza, Be’eri, Kissufim and Sufa, among other places.
The IDF was engaged in searches and trying to clean the area, to make sure there were no Hamas militants still inside the communities, Hecht said. Those living in communities around the Gaza Strip were slowly being evacuated, he said.
“We are going to respond severely against Hamas. It's going to take some time,” Hecht said.
Asked by a journalist about the intelligence failure that had allowed such a large scale attack to occur, Hecht said: "This is not a question for now.... I am sure that will be a big discussion down the road."
