Zamir Rejects the Evacuation of Al-Qassam Fighters Trapped in Rafah, and Katz Orders the Destruction of Tunnels

SadaNews - Political and military discussions continue in Israel regarding the fate of dozens of Palestinian resistance fighters trapped inside a tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, while mediator efforts intensify to stabilize the ceasefire agreement and prevent its collapse again, amid contradictory statements from Israeli officials reflecting internal disagreements on how to deal with the issue.

Israeli Channel 12 reported that Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir expressed during a meeting of the security cabinet last night his opposition to allowing the evacuation of the fighters trapped in the tunnels, emphasizing that "the crisis must end either by killing them or by their surrender."

Zamir sees surrender from his perspective as meaning "their exit in their underwear, blindfolded and handcuffed, to be transferred to the detention camp in Sde Teiman."

During the same meeting, Zamir also pointed out that he opposes moving to the next stage of the exchange agreement before recovering the remains of the Israeli soldiers held in Gaza, stressing that reconstruction should not be allowed before complete disarmament of the sector.

The channel added that Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed during the meeting that the idea of evacuating the fighters "was raised previously," but was canceled after he claimed that Hamas had launched attacks during periods of ceasefire, resulting in the deaths of 3 Israeli soldiers.

The Rafah Tunnels

According to Maariv newspaper, the Israeli army estimates that the tunnel contains between 120 and 150 fighters from the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, trapped on the Israeli side of the "yellow line."

Earlier, Israeli broadcasting authority reported that the army has begun mapping the complex tunnel in Rafah, while citing security sources that Israel refrains from attacking it, fearing the loss of information about the deceased Israeli officer Hadar Goldin, who was killed in battles in Rafah in 2014, and whose remains Hamas has held since then.

For its part, the Israeli army denied the existence of any information confirming that Goldin’s body is inside the tunnel, describing circulating reports as "false claims that harm his family."

Destruction of Tunnels

This comes as Katz announced today that he has issued orders to the army to "destroy and erase" all of Hamas’s tunnels in the Gaza Strip "to the last tunnel," stating in a post on X platform, "If there are no tunnels, there will be no Hamas."

Katz had previously confirmed in statements that the operation of "disarming Gaza" includes the complete annihilation of the tunnel network, pointing out that this file has become a "central priority in the yellow zone under Israeli control," which constitutes about 53% of the area of the Gaza Strip.

These developments come as the sector faces an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe after Israel launched a war of extermination on 7 October 2023, resulting so far in over 68,000 martyrs and 170,000 injuries, in addition to widespread destruction affecting 90% of the infrastructure and famine that has claimed hundreds of lives.