The minister in the Israeli War Council, Benny Gantz, said, "Carrying out a wide-scale operation in Rafah is not in question," confirming plans to take all steps that ensure freedom of military action.

Gantz explained on the "X" platform: "There is no doubt about the need to move... Carrying out a wide-scale operation in Rafah, as we said in the past, is not in question and we will not withdraw until we achieve our goals."

He added: "There will be no safe haven for terrorism, we will take all steps that ensure us freedom of military action, including evacuating the population, securing the borders, and preparing the area for ground entry, and we will do that."

Gantz said: "We remember and are committed to continuing the fight to eliminate the Hamas threat, and for the return of an additional 134 hostages."

The Israeli occupation army had announced that it managed earlier, through a secret and complex operation in the Shaboura area in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, to free two Israeli prisoners held by Hamas.

The Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following the army's announcement of the prisoners' release, said that "military pressure alone will lead to the release of all the hostages."

The war in the Gaza Strip entered its 129th day, amid intense shelling and clashes in the densely populated southern city of Rafah with displaced persons, amid international and UN warnings and fears of a humanitarian disaster.