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Sunday, August 9, 2026
PM personally approved IDF pullout from 3 small areas near Gaza’s Rafah before changing tack today, defense sources say
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Israeli security officials say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally approved a pilot IDF withdrawal from three small areas close to Rafah in southern Gaza, before apparently changing his mind in the past 24 hours and telling the cabinet today that Israel will not withdraw from any part of Gaza unless or until Hamas gives up all its weapons. The IDF and the security establishment reportedly only learned of Netanyahu’s change of mind from the media today.
The withdrawals in the Rafah area were discussed in consultations in the past week attended by Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, and the imminent withdrawals were approved by the IDF, by Netanyahu and by the United States, whose Trump-backed Board of Peace is seeking to advance peace efforts in Gaza, according to a Channel 12 report quoting sources in the security establishment.
The deliberations dealt with the specifics of where exactly the IDF would withdraw from, where the forces would redeploy, and how they would coordinate with the intended incoming troops from the International Stabilization Force (ISF).
Netanyahu’s announcement that he was rejecting the Board of Peace’s 15-point plan and would not agree to any IDF withdrawal from Gaza before Hamas completely disarms came as “a major shock” to the security establishment, Channel 12 reports.
It quotes an unnamed security official saying: “The shift in the prime minister’s position occurred in the past day. We learned of it today only through the media. In the discussions before today, the prime minister gave his personal approval to this plan and to the withdrawal from the points in the Rafah area.”
The Times of Israel Community.