Till now, while Israel is in Gaza split it into two part, the IDF can't till this hour locate any Hamas Commander, or base or hostages location.
ceasefire/pause for northern strip, then make a passage for the civilians to the south, and who remains.Will they extend their genocidal operations to the south as well?
Imo, they don't seem to have a coherent plan at all (looking from their perspective). The moment they announced that they would engage in ground operations and target Hamas in northern Gaza, Hamas leadership may (and probably) have evacuated to the south, along with the hostages.
It seems like they've made their bet on Gaza city, where Hamas command center is located. And capturing by the site, and eliminating their fighters in the city, it will thus weaken Hamas and possibly lead to the collapse of their organizations capability of targeting Israel. Which will soon prove to be a big miscalculations on Israels behalf.