Hawkish Netanyahu calls on Hamas to ‘surrender now’ and warns jihadi group ‘it is the beginning of the end’ – as IDF edges closer to smashing No1 terror target dubbed ‘Gaza’s Bin Laden’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on Hamas terrorists to ‘surrender now’ as he vowed that the Islamist group’s end is near.

His stark warning came as Israel’s Defence Forces said they are closing in on their number one target – top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

‘The war is still ongoing but it is the beginning of the end of Hamas. I say to the Hamas terrorists: It’s over. Don’t die for Sinwar. Surrender now,’ Netanyahu said in a statement. 

Reports have suggested that Sinwar, who has been dubbed Gaza’s Bin Laden, is in hiding at an address in northwest Khan Younis – a southern city being encircled by IDF troops.

Israel has said that more and more Hamas fighters are giving themselves up as ground operations are ramping up across the Gaza Strip.

Smoke rises as Israeli artillery units and howitzers stationed in the military zone launch attacks near the Gaza border in Nahal Oz, Israel on December 10, 2023

The IDF continued its onslaught against Hamas on Sunday as dozens more terror suspects were pictured bound, stripped and lined up on their knees.

Footage shared by Israeli media shows Israel Defence Forces (IDF) troops rounding up scores of men and transporting them on the back of trucks.

The men are believed to have surrendered in the Jabalia refugee camp and other areas around northern Gaza, with Israeli outlet Walla saying they were stripped ‘to rule out the possibility that they were carrying weapons’. 

One clip shared to social media shows Palestinian men lined up against a wall.

One man then steps forward to give his assault rifle to the Israeli troops with his hands in the air, while others behind him hold their up their identification cards.

As bombs continued to rain down on Gaza last night, IDF chief Herzi Halevi declared his forces must ‘press harder’ to dismantle Hamas’s terror network.

‘Every day, we’re seeing more and more terrorists killed, more and more terrorists wounded, and in recent days we’re seeing terrorists surrendering – this is a sign their network’s falling apart, a sign we need to press harder,’ Halevi said at a ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City.