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The Israeli military said it killed four terror operatives on the Israel-controlled side of the Yellow Line in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including several gunmen detected near troops.
In one incident, the Israel Defense Forces said that troops operating in the Rafah area to demolish Hamas tunnels opened fire on four terror operatives who were spotted near them.
“Immediately upon detection, the troops on the ground opened fire at the terrorists,” the military said, adding that no soldiers were hurt.
Later, the IDF said that three of the four armed terror operatives were confirmed to have been killed in an airstrike that was directed by the troops shortly after the initial encounter. The condition of the fourth gunman was unknown.
Some 100-200 Hamas terrorists are estimated to be holed up in tunnels in southern Gaza on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line. The US has pressured Israel to allow them safe passage back to Hamas-held areas of Gaza, though Israel has not agreed as of yet.
In a separate incident, the IDF said it killed a terror operative who crossed the Yellow Line demarcating the military’s withdrawal and approached troops in the Khan Younis area.
The military said the operative “posed an immediate threat” to the troops, who then opened fire “to remove the threat.”
The IDF said it remains deployed in Gaza “in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”
Since the ceasefire went into effect last month, at least 245 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Three Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza during the same period.
Kushner, IDF said working on contingency plans for Gaza
While the ceasefire has continued to hold despite periodic flareups, White House Middle East adviser Jared Kushner and the IDF are working on contingency plans for Gaza in case US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan stalls, Israel Hayom reported Wednesday.
Kushner told an Israeli source this week that he is working on a plan B for Gaza, according to the report, pointing at the complexity of disarming Hamas and finding countries willing to send troops ready to confront the terror group militarily.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said at last week’s security cabinet meeting that the military is also preparing an alternative plan to Trump’s, and that he will present it soon to the ministers, the Hebrew-language daily reported.
The Trump plan was supposed to progress to a second phase after the release of hostages last month, however the two sides remain at an impasse over the fate of the 100-200 Hamas gunmen trapped in Israeli-controlled Rafah, as well as the fact that the terror group is still holding on to a number of bodies of slain Israeli hostages.
While Kushner came to Israel to try to resolve the issues, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel after the meeting that “there is no agreed-upon solution regarding the terrorists in Rafah.”
Several Hebrew-language media outlets reported various proposals, including potential exile for the Hamas gunmen to a third country or allowing them to flee to the Hamas-controlled western half of Gaza provided they surrender their weapons and pledge not to return to terrorism.
The Kan public broadcaster, however, reported Tuesday that while Kushner pushed Netanyahu to allow the Hamas members to pass unarmed to the western side of Gaza, Israel refused to agree to such a proposal. According to Kan, Kushner impressed on Netanyahu the grave importance to Trump in resolving this issue and allowing the overall peace plan to move forward, and that Washington would not accept an outcome in which Israel kills the Hamas combatants.
For weeks, Netanyahu’s office has asserted that it would not grant safe passage to the holed-up Hamas fighters. US officials have reportedly told Israel that the standoff should not overshadow the larger challenge of dealing with an estimated 20,000 armed operatives still active in Hamas-controlled areas.
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