Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Israel will not withdraw from the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip until Hamas is disarmed. The Yellow Line refers to the buffer zone that Israeli forces currently occupy inside Gaza under the October 2025 ceasefire agreement.
Katz also warned that if another Israeli citizen is abducted and taken into Gaza, the entire population of Gaza City would be evacuated and relocated to the southern part of the Strip. He stated that intelligence information indicated there are current abduction threats.
The ceasefire agreement, brokered by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, ended major combat operations but left Israeli troops deployed along the Yellow Line. Hamas has not yet fully disarmed, and negotiations over its disarmament and the reconstruction of Gaza are ongoing.
No specific timeline was provided by Katz for the withdrawal, which remains contingent on Hamas meeting disarmament demands. The international community continues to call for a lasting political solution to the conflict.
