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After two years of war, Israeli defense minister cancels emergency measures in Israel’s south

The “Special Situation on the Home Front” authorized the IDF’s Home Front Command to impose limits on gatherings and civilian movement.

Be'eri bulldozer
A bulldozer destroys a house that was damaged during the Oct. 7 massacre in Kibbutz Be’eri near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, as part of a project rebuilding the destroyed homes and infrastructure in the Kibbutz, July 7, 2024. Photo by Oren Cohen/Flash90.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday signed off on the Israel Defense Forces’ proposal to cancel emergency measures in the south that had been in place since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, having been extended multiple times.

The “Special Situation on the Home Front” authorized the IDF’s Home Front Command to impose limits on gatherings and civilian movement.

The declaration did not affect citizens directly, but enabled the military to decide on new restrictions quickly.

Katz’s decision came as the military marked two years since the start of the ground maneuver against the terrorist organization inside Gaza.

Following two years of fighting, Israel and Hamas this month agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal that saw IDF troops partially withdraw from the Strip, leaving them in control of roughly half of the territory.

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