On the night of February 26, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Israel Defense Forces presented to the country's military cabinet a plan for a ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, as well as a plan for the evacuation of civilians from the combat zone.
The announcement was made before the expected start of the IDF ground operation in Rafah. Netanyahu calls that city the "last bastion" of the radical Islamist movement "Hamas."
