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IDF Plans for Rafah Op Draw on Extensive Israeli Experience
Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters/IDF Handout
JNS.org – As the War Cabinet waits for a reply from Hamas to the latest far-reaching, unprecedented Israeli proposal for a hostage release deal, the IDF has drawn up operational plans for large-scale urban warfare in Hamas’s last remaining bastion in Rafah, southern Gaza.
These plans rely on the massive experience the IDF has gained over recent months while fighting in Gaza City and Khan Yunis, including the ability to evacuate masses of civilians.
The IDF will need to move over a million people out of Rafah, an ability it honed when it moved even more civilians out of Gaza City between October and December, but this time, the military will need to set up checkpoints and screen those leaving, to ensure that Hamas terrorists do not flee with civilians, as they did during the evacuation of Gaza City.
Like Gaza City, Rafah is a densely populated urban area, and the military will aim at dismantling Hamas’s infrastructure while seeking to avoid civilian casualties to the extent possible, with Hamas, as usual, entrenching itself within the population to use it as human shields.
The IDF is highly familiar by now in dealing with tunnels and overground terror facilities set up in civilian areas.
As part of its commitment to reduce harm to noncombatants—a goal the IDF always tries to meet, and one that the Biden administration continues to publicly pressure Israel on—the military will likely focus on large-scale evacuation of Gazan civilians well before the operation gets underway.
The IDF has marked out two evacuation zones: An expansion of the Al-Al-Mawasi zone along the central-southern Gazan coastline, and Khan Yunis.
Two divisions getting ready to attack
The 98th Paratroopers Division, which led the four-month operation in Khan Yunis, and the 162nd Armored Division, which spent six months fighting in central Gaza and setting up the Netzarim Corridor separating northern and southern Gaza, are expected to lead this operation.
Situational assessments, enhancing readiness in all areas, and commanders’ discussions: The 98th Division and the 162nd Division are preparing for continued combat in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, the military announced that these two divisions, both of which are currently out of Gaza, have been enhancing readiness and holding assessments, as well as holding sessions to draw conclusions from combat against Hamas thus far.
The two divisions reviewed combat procedures and plans for continued combat in the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF, while the headquarters of the divisions and of the brigades that operate within them, as well as reservist forces, held professional learning days at all operational levels to prepare for the continuation of their missions.
“The commanders of the divisions have completed the approval of plans for upcoming missions and are now continuing to enhance readiness in all areas and in training,” the IDF stated on Tuesday.
The IDF must draw up these plans while knowing that the fate of the hostages will be far from known under such a scenario, much like when a counterterror unit bursts into a home where hostages are being held.
The IDF cannot plan for every scenario but will need to take into account developments such as threats to the hostages made by Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding in the tunnels of Rafah, or new attempts by Sinwar to stop the momentum of the IDF by making new overtures regarding a deal.
Assuming that the IDF may know the location of some of the hostages, the need to prevent strikes in those locations will be paramount, while the intelligence community will likely be monitoring events to see if new rescue operations become realistic during the operation.
On Feb. 12, the IDF rescued two Israeli hostages from their captivity in a Rafah apartment building.
The Rafah operation is expected to involve significant air and artillery strikes and tank movements.
In the rest of Gaza, the IDF is conducting targeted raids in the center and north of the Strip; any hostage deal that would freeze the military’s activities would see Hamas able to rebuild its forces.
Regardless of whether the operation goes ahead soon or further down the road due to a deal, Israel will need to be ready for the possibility that Hezbollah, which has already forced the military to fight on two fronts for the past six months, will escalate its attacks in the north to try and force Israel to divert military resources away from Gaza.
The Iranian-led terror axis does not want to see Israel destroy the remnants of the Hamas terror army, one of its most prized assets in the region, and could be willing to take new risks to try to save the Iranian-backed jihadist force in the Strip.
The post IDF Plans for Rafah Op Draw on Extensive Israeli Experience first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.