The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that Israeli army operations in the Gaza Strip have generally concluded. Today, Saturday, the security establishment informed the political leadership that it is time for a prisoner exchange agreement, and Israel can re-enter Gaza when new intelligence information becomes available.
Last Wednesday, Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi stated that the next phase is to retrieve those held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which is the goal of the war. Halevi added, "We are ready with all capabilities if the political level requests that we remain in the Philadelphi Route; we will stay and control it firmly, and if we are asked to monitor from a distance, we know how to do that and to raid the area when necessary." He continued, "We will know how to execute the political leadership's decision regarding the Philadelphi Route, whether to stay or withdraw."
About a week ago, Israeli Channel 12 reported that the army is nearing the conclusion of its operations in Rafah and insists on maintaining its forces in the Philadelphi Route. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Yoav Galant stated that "the lives of our captives are worth withdrawing from parts of the Philadelphi Route for 6 weeks, which is a period that will not witness catastrophic events."
On August 4th, army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that dozens of tunnels in the Gaza Strip had been found and destroyed. He added during a press conference: "We found a tunnel near the Philadelphi Route that was 3 meters high, and we destroyed it." Regarding the captives, a spokesperson said that efforts are underway to recover 115 individuals from Gaza. He stated that there has been no change to the home front instructions so far, and the public should follow the home front directives. He also noted, "We have plans and high readiness to execute any instructions from the political level."
