IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi on Sunday night during a visit to military forces in Rafah said that Israeli forces are about to finish off Hamas's Rafah brigade of four battalions.

"We have tremendous achievements in the battle for Rafah...this can be seen: by the number of killed terrorists, the volume of destroyed infrastructure, the [destroyed] tunnels, and the advance in underground warfare, which is very complex," said Halevi.

He added that the fact that IDF Division 162 now controls the Philadelphi Corridor "is very significant to close off the oxygen from Hamas to carry out future smuggling" to rearm itself.