The Israel Defense Forces has drawn up plans to launch renewed intensive military operations in Gaza in March, with an offensive targeting Gaza City aimed at pushing the Yellow Line ceasefire demarcation west toward the coast of the enclave, further expanding the IDF’s control of the territory, an Israeli official and an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel on Saturday.
The Arab diplomat said that the operation will not be able to go forward without the support of the US, which is still trying to advance the fragile ceasefire reached in October to a second phase that includes Hamas’s disarmament.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed during his meeting with Trump last month to cooperate with efforts to advance the ceasefire, he does not believe that they will be successful in disarming Hamas and has accordingly directed the IDF to prepare for a contingency plan, the Arab diplomat said.
On the first day of the ceasefire on October 10, Israeli forces pulled back to the Yellow Line, leaving them in control of roughly 53 percent of the Strip. The Gaza City operation planned for March would see Israel increase that percentage, the Israeli official and Arab diplomat said.
Some details of this planned offensive were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Erez Winner, a research fellow at the Israel Centre for Grand Strategy, told The Journal that an offensive against Hamas would now be easier for Israel because Israel no longer has to worry about putting hostages at risk, now that all the living hostages and all but one hostage’s body have been returned.
Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
He added that it would also be easier for Israel to evacuate Palestinians because most of them are living in tents, with one possibility being to bring them to the Israeli-controlled part of the enclave.
“[A new round of fighting in Gaza] will be much faster and easier than people want to believe,” he told The Journal. “It’s adjusting plans we already have to the current situation.”
Possible strategies mentioned by The Journal include an Israeli takeover of Gaza City to induce Hamas to quickly surrender or a slower, piece-by-piece takeover of the entire enclave.
Since the ceasefire, Israel has been launching regular strikes and attacks targeting what it says are terror operatives who breached the ceasefire.
On Saturday, the IDF said it killed three operatives in separate incidents across the Strip after they crossed the Yellow Line and approached Israeli troops, posing what the military described as an immediate threat.
According to the army, forces from the 188th Armored Brigade operating in southern Gaza identified three suspects who breached the ceasefire line. One of the suspects allegedly attempted to steal IDF equipment before fleeing, and was later killed in an Air Force strike on the Hamas-controlled side of the Yellow Line.
In two additional incidents in northern Gaza, troops from the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade and the Jerusalem Brigade identified other suspects who had also crossed the Yellow Line and moved toward Israeli forces. The soldiers opened fire, killing two of them, the IDF said.
The military said its Southern Command forces remain deployed in the area in accordance with the existing terms of the ceasefire and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat.
Stav Levaton contributed to this report.
