Netanyahu says 'we are not retreating' during Gaza visit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, where he vowed not to pull back troops despite a push by mediators to advance a US-backed ceasefire plan calling for their withdrawal.

It was his first visit to the territory since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect in October 2025.

What did Netanyahu say during his Gaza visit?

Netanyahu said Israeli forces control 60 percent of the Gaza Strip and would keep striking Hamas fighters near the so-called Yellow Line, which separates areas under Hamas and Israeli military control. He said Israel was "not retreating" and would remain on that line despite ceasefire pressure to withdraw.

"We control the area. We are not retreating. We are staying on this line," Netanyahu said near the Yellow Line. "We control 60 percent of the Strip, and we are not stopping, because we are eliminating the terrorists who threaten us, day in and day out."

Why has Netanyahu rejected the next stage of the ceasefire plan?

Israel has kept striking the Gaza Strip and its forces have made further inroads despite the US-brokered ceasefire, insisting it must eliminate threats from Hamas, which led the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack against Israel. International appeals to move to the next stages of the US-led peace plan have not stopped Israel targeting Palestinians it says are militants.

Netanyahu, facing tight elections in October, last month rejected a proposal for advancing to the next stage of the plan after Hamas said it had agreed to hand over its weapons. The Israeli premier has vowed no military pullout until the Palestinian Islamist movement is "genuinely" disarmed.

What happened with the capture of a Hamas security official?

On Tuesday, Israel said its forces and a Palestinian anti-Hamas militia captured the head of Hamas's internal security apparatus during a ground operation in Gaza City that Palestinian health officials said killed four people. Hamas's Interior Ministry identified the man as Muein al-Arabid, and said he was an "officer in the internal security service," but did not mention whether he was its chief.

"We are doing everything to reach our goal, disarming Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza. Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," Netanyahu said Wednesday, adding that "there is still work left to complete, and we will complete it."

What did Israel's defense minister say about removing Palestinians from Gaza?

Israel's defense minister on Wednesday said the country had plans to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip but was waiting for the United States to figure out where to take them. "There is no real solution for Gaza in the end without this migration," Defence Minister Israel Katz told a conference hosted by Israeli news site Ynet and newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

The Israeli government "is organized and prepared to get them out, by sea, by air, by every way possible," he said. Similar suggestions in the past that Gazans could be displaced from the territory entirely have drawn international outrage, as well as condemnation from Palestinians themselves.

Announcing the Gaza war ceasefire in October, Trump laid out 20 points for the territory that included no forced displacement. Forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

How many people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire?

Israeli operations in Gaza have killed at least 1,334 people since the ceasefire came into effect, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry, which also operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks over the same period, as well as the death of one civilian contractor.