Tel Aviv, December 6 (RHC)-- The Israeli military is encircling the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces’ chief of the general staff said on Tuesday. 

“Sixty days after the war began, our forces are now encircling the Khan Yunis area in the southern Gaza Strip,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday.  “Simultaneously, we continue to secure our accomplishments in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Earlier Tuesday, the IDF said that its forces were operating “in the heart” of Khan Younis, the territory’s second-largest city.

The Israeli military officer refused to acknowledge that the occupation forces are meeting heavy resistance and that Hamas has killed a number of Israeli troops in Khan Yunis.

In the north: Israeli troops have also "completed the encirclement" of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, Israel's military said Tuesday, as it seeks to complete its offensive operations against Hamas militants in the north of the enclave.

Halevi said that the IDF was now entering the “third phase of the ground operations,” though he did not specify what that meant.  “We have secured many Hamas strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip, and now we are operating against its strongholds in the south,” he said.

In response to a journalist’s question about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Halevi pointed to the aid trickling into Gaza, saying: “We’re making great efforts, in accordance to the government’s decision and the international law.”