IDF Briefing Details ‘New Rafah’ and Broader Gaza Reconstruction Under Phase B
By Gabriel Colodro / The Media Line
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is already preparing for the next stage of the postwar framework for Gaza, even as it stresses that key political and security conditions have yet to be met. In a briefing to foreign correspondents, Captain A., head of the IDF Press Desk, outlined how Phase B of the US-led plan would unfold and identified “New Rafah” as the first city slated for reconstruction inside the Gaza Strip.
The briefing focused on the work of the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), which Captain A. described as “the main operation that we’re working on in our main effort right now in order to move on to Phase B of the ceasefire agreement.” The CMCC, she said, operates “according to the UN solution and decision, and under the political decision of Israel and obviously the political decision of also the US,” implementing the 20-point plan advanced by President Donald Trump.
According to Captain A., the CMCC is led by the United States, with the US Army currently in charge, while a parallel Israeli headquarters operates alongside it. That IDF headquarters, she said, commanded by Maj. Gen. Yaakov (Yaki) Dolf, is responsible for ensuring that “the Israeli security interest will be taken into consideration in implementing the ceasefire agreement.” The framework already includes roughly 20 countries, 15 military forces and more than 20 humanitarian organizations.
The briefing’s central message was that Phase B remains conditional. “We cannot continue to Phase B until Phase A is completed,” Captain A. said. Phase A, she explained, requires “the return of the last Israeli hostage still in captivity,” naming deceased captive Ran Gvili, as well as the disarmament of Hamas. Israel, she said, has already met its obligations, including withdrawing to positions east of the so-called yellow line and releasing Palestinian prisoners as agreed. Hamas, she added, “was obligated to disarm itself from its weapons, and in that way to make sure that we will be able to move to Phase B.”
Once those conditions are met, Phase B would see the entry of an international stabilization force into Gaza. The force’s mission, Captain A. said, would be “to ensure that the new communities that will be built in the Gaza Strip,” to protect the forces operating there, and “to ensure the distribution of the humanitarian aid inside Gaza.” She noted that many countries are willing to take part, but “they will not send their soldiers to fight Hamas militants,” making disarmament a prerequisite.
The most concrete element of the briefing concerned reconstruction itself. Captain A. said the rebuilding phase would begin with “the new Rafah.” “We will build a city,” she said, referring to a joint effort with the international community. The objective, she added, is to create “a functioning place and a place worth living in Gaza,” and to show that “you do not need a terror group to rule you to have a good life.”
She also referred to additional communities planned elsewhere in Gaza, describing them as “alternative communities inside Gaza,” though no other locations were specified.
The IDF’s role in this process, Captain A. emphasized, will be limited. “The IDF’s job and Israel’s job, as of now, is to flatten the area that the alternative communities will be built on,” she said. “Not governing those communities, not taking anything to Israeli custody, just flattening the area so we can build on those places.”
On humanitarian aid, Captain A. said Israel currently transfers more than 600 trucks a day to Gaza’s border crossings, “including enough food for at least 3,000 calories a day per Gaza person.” Distribution inside Gaza, she said, is handled by nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations, while Hamas “finds its ways to the trucks and loots them,” imposes taxes, and in some cases uses violence against vendors.
Despite the detailed planning, Captain A. emphasized that timelines remain uncertain. “We are already in the advanced planning of Phase B,” she said, “but we’re just waiting for our last hostage and for Hamas to disarm itself to move to Phase B.”
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