Netanyahu stresses IDF will enter Rafah as Israel nears Gaza hostage deal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked to the war cabinet Sunday to approve both a military operation into Rafah to destroy the final vestiges of Hamas and an evacuation plan for the over 1.3 million Palestinians crowded into that small area near Egypt’s southern border.

“I've asked the army to submit to me a double plan, first to evacuate to enable the evacuation of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and, obviously, second, to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions,” Netanyahu told CBS’s Face the Nations on Sunday.

“That gets us a real, real distance towards the completion of our victory, and tha t- we're not going to give it up,” Netanyahu said.

“Once we begin the Rafah operation, the intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion, not months, weeks away from completion,” Netanyahu said, as he indicated that the Israel-Hamas war could be wrapped up this spring.

“We’ve already destroyed 18 of the 24 Hamas terrorist battalions. So we- we have– and four of them are concentrated in the Rafah. We can't leave the last Hamas stronghold without taking care of it, obviously, we have to do it,” Netanyahu said as he defended the pending operation which has drawn worldwide condemnation even before it has begun.

Netanyahu spoke as Israel has expressed cautious optimism about the possibility of a deal for the release of the remaining 134 hostages out of the 253 Hamas seized during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the Gaza war.

Hostage deal will delay, not stop, Rafah operation

Those involved in the negotiations for a deal have used the pending military operation as a pressure lever to sway Hamas to make a deal before the Ramadan holiday, which begins on March 10.

Netanyahu confirmed to CBS that a deal would delay the operation.

A number of major events have just taken place or are about to take place regarding the significant battle over war crimes allegations against Israel.

In the coming days, Israel will deliver its first alleged war crimes update, this time to the International Court of Justice, though it appears that the report will remain confidential for now.

The ICJ on January 26 ordered Israel to deliver the report within 30 days.

This major event comes only days after IDF Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi sent a letter to the entire military warning that the IDF had entered a new stage. In this new stage, disciplinary and allegedly criminal issues, which may have moved forward slowly to date because of the war, will finally move forward in a more serious way.

The nearly simultaneous timing of these two events was no coincidence.

On February 12, the Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF plans to produce a larger interim report of sorts on its alleged war crimes probes of its soldiers in late March-early April. 

Though only an interim report, this will be even more comprehensive than the ICJ report coming out this week. 

Hamas stated that the Islamist terror organization does not care about the reported imminent possibility that Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh's government would resign, Al Arabiya reported on Sunday.

“Mohammed Shtayyeh will step down from the prime minister position, and [Mahmoud] Abbas will appoint someone even more corrupt," a Hamas source told the Saudi state-owned news outlet.

Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the PA in 2005 for a four-year term. He has been president ever since despite holding no subsequent elections.

According to the source, Hamas’s goal is to form an impartial and national government that is formed by consensus of the Palestinian factions, adding that the upcoming talks in Moscow to build a unity government would only be in place for “a specified period with [have] clear tasks.”

The unity talks in Moscow are scheduled to take place on Monday.

If successful, Sky News Arabia reported Palestinian sources as claiming that Shtayyeh may resign to form a new, technocratic government.

A Qatari source first reported that Hamas had agreed to form such a government earlier this month.

Nevertheless, Al Arabiya reported that Hamas media spokesman in Lebanon, Walid al-Kilani, described the formation of this government as an outcome of an American demand on the PA, and not as something that would be in the best interest of the Palestinian people.

 "This is in response to an American demand from the Palestinian Authority to make amendments to the government,” al-Kilani said, Al Arabiya reported, citing the Arab World News Agency. “All of this does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people or the future freedom of the Palestinian people or the attainment of their rights. It comes in the context of what the US administration wants."

Speaking at the IDF’s Northern Command base, along with Northern Command chief, Ori Gordin, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that if there is a temporary pause in the fighting in Gaza, the IDF will increase its fire against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"We are planning to increase the intensity of fire against Hezbollah, which is unable to find replacements for the commanders we are eliminating,” Gallant said. “In the event of a temporary truce in Gaza - we will increase the fire in the north independently, and will continue until the full withdrawal of Hezbollah and the return of the residents to their homes."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded that all "heavy" prisoners released in an expected Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal would be sent directly to Qatar upon their release from Israeli jails, N12 reported on Sunday evening.

According to the report, that demand has not yet been discussed with mediators during negotiations.

The term "heavy" prisoner refers to the high-profile nature of the crime for which said inmate was imprisoned, with Palestinians imprisoned for murdering Israelis in terror attacks considered "heavier" than inmates with no blood on their hands.

In what they said was the largest gathering of global Jewish community leaders since the October 7 massacre, the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Board of Governors assembled 200 Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday to discuss rehabilitation for the Gaza border towns.

The Jewish leaders had planned to visit Beeri, Nir Oz, Kfar Gaza, Sderot, Ofakim, and Ashkelon to view the sites impacted by the Hamas attacks and listen to survivor testimonies.

The tour is intended to help the leaders learn about the immediate and long term needs for rehabilitation, show solidarity with the victims, and to be better able to explain about the pogrom to their home communities.

The Board of Governors said it would review major Jewish Agency projects for rehabilitation, including Communities2Gether and the Fund for the Victims of Terror, the latter of which reportedly assisted 8,000 victims of the October 7 attack. The Agency said that during the conference it would honor employees whose family members were murdered, fell in battle during reserve duty, and who have family members held hostage.

"This week’s Board of Governors meeting is an expression of the unconditional love global Jewish communities have for the State of Israel," said Jewish Agency chairman of the executive Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog. "Their arrival at this difficult time is a moving show of solidarity. Since October 7th the Jews worldwide have been supporting, donating and bearing the horrific pain together with us." 

Senior Houthi leader Mohammad Ali al-Houthi offered to return a British-owned cargo ship abandoned due to damage in exchange for more aid being sent to Gaza, in an X post on Sunday. 

The ship was abandoned last week after being struck by a Houthi missile, NBC News reported.

“The sunken British ship could be towed in exchange for bringing relief trucks into Gaza. This is an offer that can be studied,” al-Houthi wrote.

بالامكان أن تسحب السفينة البريطانية الغارقة مقابل إدخال شاحنات للاغاثة إلى غزة
هذا عرض قابل للدراسة

— محمد علي الحوثي (@Moh_Alhouthi) February 24, 2024

The captured ship has created several environmental concerns, as it is now leaking oil off Yemen’s coast.

In one of numerous engagements with terrorists in western Khan Yunis, fighters of the Egoz Unit of the Commando Brigade employed what the military dubbed the “pressure cooker” procedure to eliminate a squad of entrenched terrorists, the IDF reported on Sunday.

The terrorists had previously taken up a defended position inside a building being used as Hamas infrastructure and fired at IDF troops.

The following battle dragged into a prolonged siege on the structure before the troops managed to eliminate the embedded terrorists, the IDF added.

A stockpile of weapons found at the site

After the terrorists were defeated, the Egoz Unit troops searched the premises.

The IDF personnel subsequently discovered many weapons, including Kalashnikovs, grenades, and ammunition.

IDF troops operate in Western Khan Yunis. February 25, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

In another encounter, employing a drone, Egoz Unit troops identified an additional two terrorists who had barricaded themselves inside a house in the area.

The troops advanced on the terrorist’s position and threw grenades at them, eliminating them. Following the defeat of the entrenched Palestinian combatants, the Israeli forces searched the house. The IDF did not specify if anything of interest was found inside the structure.

The mayor of Kiryat Shmona warned all residents who were still in the northernmost Israeli city to leave immediately, as Hezbollah is escalating its operations along Israel's northern border.

In a recorded message, Avichai Stern warned residents to "not take any excess risk. For anyone still in the city, this is the time to make a phone call and leave.

"Another day of massive fire with three rockets fired at our city," Stern said. "To our delight, all rocket launches toward our city only resulted in landings in open fields."

ראש העיר מקרית שמונה, אביחי שטרן:
״אני קורא לתושבים שנשארו בעיר לעזוב עוד היום את העיר.."

הישמרו מאוד לנפשותיכם pic.twitter.com/z2MbEWQJME

— miri barbi 64,000🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🟢 (@MiriBarbi) February 25, 2024

Israeli fighter jets targeted and eliminated a Hezbollah terror cell in the area of Blida in southern Lebanon shortly after the cell exited a military compound, the IDF said on Sunday.

Two other military compounds in the area were also targeted.

Earlier, the IDF's Aerial Defense Array brought down a suspicious aerial target after it had penetrated into Israeli airspace over the Upper Galilee from Lebanon, the military added,

Additionally, over the past hours, Israel identified launches coming from Lebanon that were directed toward the areas of Margaliot, Har Dov, Kiryat Shmona, Menara, and Malkiya in Israel's north. The IDF responded by striking the sources of rocket fire.