Rafah

Israeli security sources: Netanyahu approved a US-backed plan to withdraw IDF troops from 3 zones near Rafah to make way for a multinational force, then reversed his position in the past 24 hours. Officials say they were surprised by the shift and only learned of it through the media, per an N12 reporter.

Despite the PM's announcement this morning, the security establishment has received no order to freeze the next phase in Gaza. On August 30, work begins on the first base of the multinational force in Rafah, an official at the U.S. headquarters in Kiryat Gat told Kann. Airstrikes in Gaza have nearly stopped over the past week on the political level's directive.

- Kann News.

Ahmed Faisal Rafaat Abu Marzouq, killed in a Rafah strike, was a Hamas member, per an obituary the group published today.

In Feb. 2024, the Irish Times profiled an Irish-based surgeon whose brother died when "an Israeli bomb hit a refugee camp in Rafah." That brother was Abu Marzouq.

@JoeTruzman

Israel is weighing plans to protect the Palestinian militia members it runs in Gaza within the Yellow Line. Among the ideas: moving clan members into "New Rafah," a Hamas-free city to be built by the UAE.

Kann News.

IDF paratroopers located an old lathe used to produce rockets in Rafah, southern Gaza. Searches for Hamas weapons and infrastructure continue across the area.

NEW: Things are moving forward with the Trump Gaza plan. The proposal relocates Palestinian civilians into humanitarian zones outside Hamas control, beginning in the Tel al Sultan area near Rafah.

Read our report here

Abu Fakher, commander of Hamas' Yibna Battalion in the Rafah Brigade, was killed.

He'd been rebuilding the battalion and oversaw Hamas weapons smuggling into Gaza for two decades. - IDF and Shin Bet

Anti-Hamas Popular Forces militia patrolling near Rafah. These groups continue to operate and expand under the cover of Israel's Yellow Line enforcement.

@JoeTruzman

Abu Dhabi has told Israel the UAE-funded "Green City" project in eastern Rafah won't advance unless the Hamas threat is fully neutralized and Israel guarantees the site won't be damaged if fighting resumes. The project is still in planning. A source familiar with the matter: "The Emiratis don't want to wake up in a few years with a Hamas tunnel under a city they're building."

@kaisos1987

Armed Hamas operatives blocked Gazan contractors from entering Rafah to carry out construction work tied to the planned new Palestinian city, using weapons threats to turn them away.

- Channel 13

UAE to Israel: The new Rafah city will only move forward if Hamas is neutralized and Israel guarantees the project stays protected if fighting resumes.

Kan News.

The IDF's 12th Brigade completed operations in southern Gaza, destroying eight underground tunnels. One tunnel belonged to the terrorist infrastructure network in eastern Rafah.

IDF working Rafah, Gaza

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz: “All houses in villages near the Lebanese border will be destroyed”, following a Gaza-style “Rafah model.”

An IDF strike in Rafah on May 4, 2024, initially reported as hitting civilians, targeted PIJ commander Ahmed Jumaa Zarab, the group now admits, confirming IDF claims.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz: "We will turn the contact villages in southern Lebanon into areas like Beit Hanoun and Rafah in Gaza."