With the agreement to return the hostages and end the war in Gaza approved, IDF forces Friday have withdrawn to the agreed lines, it announced at noon. The IDF completed the dismantling of outposts and static defensive positions in the Gaza Strip and completed the withdrawal at noon — in order to start counting, from midnight, the 72 hours Hamas has under the agreement to return the hostages, Monday at noon.
"Since 12:00, IDF troops began positioning themselves along the updated deployment lines in preparation for the ceasefire agreement and the return of hostages. IDF troops in the Southern Command are deployed in the area and will continue to remove any immediate threat," the IDF said in a statement.
IDF forces leave Gaza overnight
(Video: Brigade 188)
As part of a huge logistical operation by Southern Command and the Logistics Directorate, thousands of infrastructures of various kinds were dismantled — industrial generators, antennas, soldiers’ accommodation, observation posts, fighting positions and more. Hundreds of trucks, bulldozers and engineering vehicles are participating in the logistical operation. IDF forces will deploy by midday to new defensive positions in the reinforced buffer area near the border.
IDF closes military base in northern Gaza after signing agreement
(Video: Gilad Cohen)
According to testimony from officers in Southern Command, at least two of the new positions being established near the border are located east of the “yellow line” on the maps published by the political echelon. The IDF, as a professional body, has so far not commented on the withdrawal line, at the instruction of the political echelon. These are at least two new positions whose corrected location, apparently at Hamas’ request, is not on the main longitudinal axis of the Gaza Strip,Salah al-Din road, but rather on the “70 Ridge” close to the border. This area is opposite Kibbutz Be’eri in the northern strip, where until Thursday the Netzarim Corridor was located.
Meanwhile, the commander of Brigade 188, Col. M., told his fighters upon leaving Gaza: “Stations 188 — here is the summit, time to hold your heads high. Since Nov. 7, 2023 you have operated with determination, comradeship and dedication to the goal — you fulfilled the mission. The flash in your eyes did not go out for a moment and the moral compass was present in every task you performed. During the operation we were physically close to the hostages; everything you did created the conditions for bringing our brothers home. This is the deepest meaning of our fighting — to turn military power into hope."
“Each one of you is part of a historic, military and national chapter,” the brigade commander said. “Along the way we lost friends, we carry their memory in pain; our achievements are also their victory. This current mission has ended, you have made the State of Israel safer, but we must always remain alert, sharp and ready. The duty to defend the citizens of Israel is our compass. Here — the summit. Good luck. Over.
Reserve fighter Res. Sgt.-Maj. Azriel Dotan, 39, shared on leaving the strip: “We were mobilized immediately on October 7 two years ago. My brother-in-law, Major Moti Shamir, of blessed memory, was killed after fighting in the enclave all that day. These were two years in which every day we rose from the dust and fought. In total we served almost a full year in the reserves, across seven different rotations in all parts of the Gaza Strip — on the Philadelphi corridor, on the Morag corridor, on the Nitzarim corridor and now in the northern strip. The hostages will return and we feel victory and pride. Of course, if we are called again, we will report and fight.
First published: 11:14, 10.10.25