JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said it killed four suspected militants who attacked its troops as the armed men emerged from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Monday, calling the group’s actions a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire.
Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.
“A short while ago, four armed terrorists exited an underground tunnel shaft and fired toward soldiers in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip.... Following identification, the troops eliminated the terrorists,” the military said in a statement.
It said none of its troops had been injured in the attack, which it called a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement” between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli troops “are continuing to operate in the area to locate and eliminate all the terrorists within the underground tunnel route,” the military added.
Gaza health officials have said Israeli air strikes last Wednesday killed 24 people, with Israel’s military saying the attacks were in response to one of its officers being wounded by enemy gunfire.
That wave of strikes came after Israel partly reopened the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on February 2, the only gateway to the Palestinian territory that does not pass through Israel.
Israeli forces seized control of the crossing in May 2024 during the war with Hamas, and it had remained largely closed since.
Around 180 Palestinians have left the Gaza Strip since Rafah’s limited reopening, according to officials in the territory.
Israel has so far restricted passage to patients and their accompanying relatives.
The second phase of the Gaza ceasefire foresees a demilitarization of the territory — including the disarmament of Hamas — along with a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Hamas has repeatedly said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.
Israeli officials say Hamas still has around 20,000 fighters and about 60,000 Kalashnikovs in Gaza.
A Palestinian technocratic committee has been set up with a goal of taking over day-to-day governance in the strip, but it remains unclear whether, or how, it will address the issue of demilitarization.
Israel says killed four militants exiting tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah
https://arab.news/43fyd
Israel says killed four militants exiting tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah
- It said the attack on its troops was a violation of the ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas
Red Cross transfers 8 Palestinians from Israeli detention to Gaza
- They were taken across the Karm Abu Salem border crossing to Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, where they were reunited with their families
LONDON: The International Committee of the Red Cross transferred eight Palestinians from Israeli detention to the Gaza Strip on Monday.
The organization took them across the Karm Abu Salem border crossing to Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah and helped reunite them with their families.
The Red Cross has been unable to visit Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centers since October 2023, as a result of which the fate and location of many detainees from Gaza were unknown, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
The Red Cross said that according to the principles of international humanitarian law, detainees must be treated humanely, held in proper conditions and allowed to have contact with their families.
Israel is holding about 9,245 Palestinian prisoners in jails, including 358 held without charge or trial under administrative detention, according to Jerusalem-based rights group HaMoked.
