The Israel Defense Forces’ determination to return the last hostage body held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and disarm the terror group remains absolute, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Wednesday.
The IDF “will not relent” until Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili receives a proper burial, “concluding the chapter of the return of hostages from Gaza,” Zamir told commanders during a visit to the southern Strip.
In addition, the military’s “determination to disarm Hamas and the rest of the terrorist organizations is absolute,” Zamir continued.
The so-called Yellow Line instituted by the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that went into effect on Oct. 10 and left IDF soldiers in control of more than half of the Strip is “a new security boundary,” according to the chief of staff.
“The Yellow Line is an enhanced defensive line that supports swift operational responses as required. We will continue operating to weaken Hamas as necessary—the troops must remain alert and prepared for developments,” he stated, per the IDF.
“In 2025, the IDF achieved unprecedented accomplishments, foremost among them a severe blow to the Hamas terror group, the dismantling of all its front-line units, the removal of the threat as we experienced on Oct. 7 and the return of all living hostages to their homes,” said Zamir, referring to the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The year ahead will be a “decisive year in shaping the security reality of the State of Israel,” the chief of staff continued, adding that Israel would not allow Hamas “to rebuild its capabilities and threaten us.”
Zamir visited Gaza alongside the head of IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, the chief of the Gaza Division, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram and the commanders of the Golani, 188th and Southern Gaza Brigade.
Soldiers “continue to dismantle terror infrastructure in the area of the Yellow Line in the northern Gaza Strip,” the army said in a separate statement on Wednesday evening.
As part of ongoing ground operations in the Beit Hanoun area, IDF forces found a launcher loaded with five rockets and aimed at Israeli territory, according to the military.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Tuesday that progress toward the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire hinges on Hamas disarming, calling the terrorist group’s refusal to give up its weapons the central obstacle to stabilizing the territory in 2026.
The prime minister told Fox that he believed a different future for Gaza was still possible in the year ahead “if we disarm Hamas, whether with an international force or by any other means.” He added, “If it can be done the easy way, fine. And if not, it’ll be done another way.”
The Palestinian terror organization that murdered some 1,200 people, primarily Jewish civilians, in its Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border assault still has around 20,000 operatives and 60,000 rifles, Netanyahu revealed.
“That’s what disarmament means—got to take all these rifles, take them away from them, and break up those terror tunnels that they have, still hundreds of kilometers of terror tunnels,” the premier told Fox News.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Dec. 6 repeated calls for Israel’s destruction, rejecting U.S.- and U.N.-backed demands to disarm the Iranian-supported terrorist group and demilitarize the Gaza Strip.
“The resistance and its weapons are the honor and pride of the ummah [the Islamic nation],” Mashaal told an anti-Israel summit in Turkey. “A thousand statements are not worth a single projectile of iron.”
The terrorist leader also dismissed “all forms of guardianship, mandate and re-occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and all of Palestine,” rejecting another key part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan, which received unanimous support of the U.N. Security Council on Nov. 17.
