Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Sunday vowed to disarm the Hamas terrorist group “either through an agreement or through military means.”
“We will continue to insist that the Hamas regime will not exist on the other side of the border. Even if this requires time, we will persist in the mission of dismantling Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip,” he stated, speaking during a visit to Gaza’s Rafah area, which remains under military control in accordance with the U.S.-brokered truce.
Zamir received an overview of developments, “with an emphasis on the defensive effort, removing threats and maintaining constant readiness for a rapid shift and transition to offensive activities,” the IDF stated.
He noted that the military currently controls more than half of the Strip’s territory under the Trump administration-brokered ceasefire, without controlling the civilians in IDF-held areas.
“The Yellow Line serves as a security line, and we continue to operate to prevent Hamas’s resurgence by holding key areas as well as entrances to the Gaza Strip,” Zamir stated. “Our troops continue operating along the Yellow Line to clear the area and eliminate terrorist strongholds.”
However, Zamir declared that if the truce falters and Hamas refuses to disarm, the IDF “must be prepared for a rapid transition to a large-scale activity to establish operational control of areas in the Gaza Strip.”
On Sunday night, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the IDF’s efforts to destroy the remaining Hamas terror tunnels in areas under military control were “progressing well.”
The military is “working to demolish the tunnels through explosions, or by filling and pumping liquid concrete into the tunnels throughout the area under its control,” the defense minister tweeted.
“The multinational force led by the United States is supposed to handle the demilitarization and disarmament of Hamas in ‘old Gaza,’” he said, adding, “Until the last tunnel.”
Meanwhile, the IDF announced it had killed a terrorist who crossed the Yellow Line in northern Gaza and “posed an immediate threat to them.”
After ground troops identified the individual, an Israeli Air Force strike eliminated the terrorist, the IDF said in a statement.
The Yellow Line runs through the north, center and south of the Strip, separating the area to which the IDF has withdrawn under the truce from the rest of the territory. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire ended two years of war between Jerusalem and the Hamas terrorist group.
The ceasefire has remained intact despite repeated violations by Hamas, including the killing of three IDF soldiers last month, which prompted retaliatory strikes by the military. An additional Hamas violation consists of the terrorists’ delay in releasing the remains of hostages.
Jerusalem believes Hamas is deliberately delaying the return of the three remaining deceased hostages to avoid disarmament, which is scheduled for the second phase of the ceasefire, including the deployment of an International Stabilization Force in the Gaza Strip.
