Netanyahu set to tell Trump that phase 2 of Gaza peace plan ‘is not moving’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will tell US President Donald Trump during their meeting on Wednesday that the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire “is not moving,” an Israeli source with knowledge of the details told The Times of Israel on Tuesday as the premier’s plane was en route to Washington.

The US-brokered ceasefire plan reached in October foresees the demilitarization of Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave. Hamas, however, has not agreed to give up its weapons, a matter that both Israel and the US consider to be nonnegotiable.

To that end, the source said Israel has been telling the US that another Israeli military operation is necessary to move toward Trump’s vision for the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu’s sentiments would appear to be shared by the Israel Defense Forces, as The Times of Israel learned earlier on Wednesday that the military was drawing up plans for a renewed offensive to disarm Hamas by force.

Meanwhile, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the Palestinian technocratic committee set to govern Gaza, has yet to enter the Strip and begin operations there.

Even with fighting officially halted, near-daily incidents have occurred along the ceasefire line, with both Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating its terms.

For its part, Israel has repeatedly targeted armed suspects — and, allegedly, at times uninvolved and unarmed civilians — who cross into Israeli-controlled areas.

On Tuesday, the IDF said it targeted Hamas operatives in response to an attack on troops in the Rafah area the previous day.

According to Palestinian media, a drone strike on a motorcycle in central Gaza this morning killed three people, including a woman, and a strike on an apartment in Gaza City last night killed two men.

The military said the Hamas operatives it targeted in the strikes “advanced many terror attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel,” but did not provide any further details.

The army said the strikes came in response to a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire deal on Monday, in which four gunmen emerged from a tunnel in eastern Rafah and opened fire on troops before being killed.

While the IDF statement only mentioned Hamas operatives, the UK-based Arabic outlet Asharq al-Awsat identified one of those killed in the strike as Assem Abu Holi, a “commander of the elite unit in al-Quds Brigades,” the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The strike also critically wounded another Islamic Jihad operative who was with Abu Holi and killed an elderly male passerby, according to the outlet. Some reports had said three people, including a woman, were killed.

According to Palestinian media, Abu Holi was killed in a strike on a motorized bike traveling on Gaza’s central Salah al-Din Road, at the entrance to the al-Musaddar, east of Deir al-Balah, and inside the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line.

Al Jazeera published what it said was footage of the strike, filmed from a fixed position, which shows a man on an electric bicycle being targeted as he passes next to another man walking on the sidewalk.

A tanker truck traveling next to the bicycle briefly stops before making a left turn, while a pickup truck driving behind the bicycle comes to an abrupt stop before the driver gets out to survey the damage.

مراسل الجزيرة مباشر: شهيدان جراء استهداف الاحتلال دراجة نارية على مدخل منطقة المصدر وسط قطاع غزة pic.twitter.com/dZtVoDrZCs

— الجزيرة مباشر (@ajmubasher) February 10, 2026

The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023, when terrorists slaughtered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 72,000 people in the Strip have been killed during the war — including over 500 since the October 2025 ceasefire — though the toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The Israeli military believes that Hamas’s overall toll is largely accurate, with IDF officials estimating that two to three civilians were killed for every dead terror operative.

The IDF says it has killed over 23,000 combatants in Gaza and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Since the start of the ceasefire in October 2025, the IDF has said it has killed dozens of terror operatives and other “suspects” who have crossed the Yellow Line and approached troops.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Israel’s total toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 476. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors. Four soldiers have been killed by terrorists in Gaza since the ceasefire.