Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out on Monday the safe movement of some 200 Palestinian terrorists from the Yellow Zone in Gaza, under the control of the Israel Defense Forces, to the territory ruled by Hamas, Channel 12 News reported.
This came on the back of an earlier report that Israel green-lit their safe passage under the condition they lay down their arms.
“The IDF chief of staff’s position is that these terrorists should be eliminated. Allowing their passage unarmed—only in exchange for the fallen hostages held [in Gaza],” Channel 12 cited anonymous senior IDF officials as saying.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded to the initial report on X, calling the move “complete madness” and appealing to the premier to prevent it.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also reacted to the news, saying that “IDF soldiers managed to capture dozens of terrorists in tunnels in the Rafah area. Our dear soldiers are closing in on them. Their choice is to surrender or die. These are terrorists with blood on their hands.
“Some of them probably attacked Israel on Oct. 7, [2023]; others recently murdered three of our dear sons,” Bennett added, referring to IDF Master Sgt. (res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum, Maj. Yaniv Kula and Staff Sgt. Itay Yavetz, who were killed in October in the southern Gaza Strip.
An Israeli security source told Channel 12 News on Monday that Israel has agreed to allow their passage “to protect the lives of our soldiers and to disarm [the terrorists] on their own ground. That way we’ll also be able to search for additional hostages.”
A second official said, “The moment they agree to lay down their weapons and to move unarmed, they are no longer classified as terrorists.”
Also on Monday, the IDF said that several terrorists were identified crossing the Yellow Line toward Israeli troops in the southern Strip.
The military “from the air and the ground eliminated the militants” to remove the threat they posed to the troops, the military said.
“IDF Southern Command forces are deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire agreement framework and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat,” the army added.
On Sunday, Al Jazeera reported that Hamas via mediators had asked Jerusalem to permit the passage of hundreds of terrorists isolated in underground tunnels and other pockets in Gaza that are surrounded by Israeli forces.
According to the ceasefire terms, the IDF withdrew to a designated area that runs north, center and south through the Gaza Strip. Thus, some 53% of the Palestinian territory is in Israel’s control, where many terrorists are believed to still be in hiding.
The terrorist group later on Sunday handed over to Israel the bodies of three deceased hostages.
The IDF and the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed their identities on Monday morning. The remains were those of Col. Asaf Hamami, Capt. Omer Maxim Neutra and Sgt. Oz Daniel.
Terrorists still hold the bodies of eight hostages in the Gaza Strip. They belong to six Israelis—Israeli-American dual national Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, Meny Godard, Lt. Hadar Goldin (whose remains were taken in 2014), Sgt. Maj. Ran Gvili, Dror Or and Israeli-Argentinean dual national Lior Rudaeff—Tanzanian agricultural intern Joshua Mollel and Thai agricultural worker Sudthisak Rinthalak.
Hamas is required to return all of the captives—living and deceased—as part of the U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement.
