In Gaza, Netanyahu says IDF will retain Yellow Line positions

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited an Israel Defense Forces outpost near the Yellow Line demarcation boundary in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. He said Israel would maintain control of the area as it works to complete the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza.

“We control the territory. We are not withdrawing. We are staying on this line,” Netanyahu said during the visit, alongside IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and senior Southern Command officers.

“We control 60% of the Strip, and our reach extends further, because we are eliminating the terrorists who threaten us. We do so day in and day out,” Netanyahu said, adding, “Yesterday, we got Hamas’s Shin Bet chief. We will surely learn some things.”

He was referring to Tuesday’s capture of the commander of the terror group’s internal security apparatus in Gaza City, Muein al-Arabid.

The premier said the objective of preventing Gaza from again threatening Israel had “largely already been achieved,” while acknowledging that additional work remains.

Netanyahu also held a security assessment at Gaza Division headquarters at Camp Re’im on Wednesday, where he met the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) special forces operators who led the Southern Command in apprehending al-Arabid, commending them “for the daring and successful operation,” according to Netanyahu’s office.

The prime minister on Tuesday hailed al-Arabid’s capture, describing him as “one of the most senior Hamas leaders who had been “responsible for hiding and transporting our abductees [and] hiding senior Hamas officials,” referring to those taken captive by the terrorist group during its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel.

More recently, al-Arabid was involved in efforts to restore Hamas’s control in Gaza and to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians, Netanyahu said. “My directive is clear: The State of Israel will continue to persecute all Hamas leaders and all those who took part in the Oct. 7 massacre,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hamas said on Tuesday that it had contacted mediators and Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, urging them to pressure Jerusalem over continued Israeli strikes in the Strip, Reuters reported.

Hamas said the attacks were undermining the ceasefire agreement, which took effect in October 2025.

Israel has said its operations are intended to prevent attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups and has accused Hamas of attempting to reestablish its presence in Gaza.

The IDF revealed on Wednesday that it had killed Talal Mustafa Saleh Badawi, a commander in the Military Security Department of Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade, in a strike on Monday.

Another Hamas terrorist, Momon Saeed Mohammed Hawari, was also killed in the strike, according to the military.

The two men were advancing terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops and working to rebuild Hamas capabilities in violation of the ceasefire, said the IDF. The strike was carried out to remove an immediate threat, and precautions were taken to reduce the risk of harm to civilians, the army said.