IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said the Israeli army must be ready to “quickly establish operational control” over the Gaza area “beyond the Yellow Line”. Zamir said the IDF “will continue to operate to prevent the rise of Hamas, controlling key areas and entrances to Gaza.” Israeli media reported it.
Speaking to troops in Rafah, the IDF chief said the military “will continue to insist that the Hamas regime will not exist on the other side of the border. Even if it takes time.”
“In the Gaza Strip, we control more than 50% of the territory, without controlling the population. The Yellow Line serves as a line of encirclement and control, and we continue to act to prevent the advance of Hamas, maintaining control of the ‘strategic’ area and the gateway to Gaza,” Zamir said during a visit to the Rafah region in southern Gaza, wrote The Times of Israel. “If necessary, we must be ready to transition quickly to a full-scale offensive to conquer territory in the Gaza Strip, on the other side of the Yellow Line,” the IDF said.
Previously, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated on X that Israel would not accept the creation of a Palestinian state and that the Israel Defense Forces would maintain their presence in strategic areas in Gaza but also elsewhere.
“Israel’s policy is clear: there will be no Palestinian state. The Israel Defense Forces will remain on Mount Hermon and in the security zone. Gaza will be demilitarized down to the last tunnel and Hamas will be disarmed in the yellow areas by the Israel Defense Forces” and, throughout the Gaza Strip, “by international forces or the IDF,” Katz said.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross and the Hamas al-Qassam Brigades have continued operations to recover the body of a detainee in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. That’s what Al Jazeera reported. And Israeli attacks continue: three Palestinians were killed in an attack targeting the eastern part of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, “in violation of the ceasefire agreement”, according to what the Palestinian agency Wafa wrote.
Al Jazeera also reported that Israeli helicopters bombed areas north of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The attack took place inside the so-called yellow line that demarcates the area under Israeli army control.
Furthermore, Arab newspapers reported that the Israeli army continued to attack locations called the yellow lines, in areas still under its control. The situation, writes the Qatari television station, is becoming increasingly serious for families living near the yellow line. “We are just meters from the yellow line and the situation is getting worse, while the Israeli army continues to destroy residential buildings and spread panic with attacks in the area – wrote the reporter – Furthermore, winter conditions add further suffering to hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who are still living in fear and a deepening humanitarian crisis”.
Al Jazeera also reported that Israeli soldiers killed a young Palestinian in a raid on the Askar Lama refugee camp, east of Nablus, in the West Bank.
Unifil: ‘Targeted by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon’
The UN interposition force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, was targeted by Israeli armed forces. Unifil itself communicated this through a post on X, in which it was stated that the shooter was a Merkava tank, from a position held by the IDF in southern Lebanon.
Israeli forces said the weapon was “accidentally fired” at UN peacekeepers. The Israeli army said they mistook the soldiers for “suspects,” it said in a statement.
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