Katz says IDF targeting Hamas operatives within Yellow Line ‘without limitation’

Defense Minister Israel Katz says that the IDF will destroy Hamas’s tunnels and kill its terror operatives inside the Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza “without any limitation,” amid reports that Israel is considering allowing gunmen trapped in Rafah to return to Hamas-held areas of the Strip.

“Israel’s policy in Gaza is clear: The IDF is operating to destroy the tunnels and eliminate Hamas terrorists without any limitation within the yellow area under our control,” Katz says in a statement.

“The goal, alongside returning all the fallen hostages, is to disarm Hamas and demilitarize Gaza,” he adds.

According to Israeli estimates, some 200 Hamas gunmen are currently located in the tunnels underneath the IDF-controlled parts of southern Gaza, especially in Rafah, and are unable to retreat to the Hamas-controlled areas without emerging from their tunnels and being spotted by Israeli troops.

The US is reportedly pressuring Israel to permit safe passage for the operatives, part of efforts to advance to the next stage of the emerging ceasefire framework based on Trump’s plan.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will not allow them safe passage. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly recommended to political officials that Israel should condition the safe passage of the operatives from Rafah on the return of the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed fighting Hamas in Gaza in 2014 and whose body has been held since.