The Israel Defense Forces carried out an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday morning targeting a group of gunmen who were approaching Israeli forces in the area, the military said.
Palestinian media reported that the drone strike killed three Hamas terror group police officers east of the city of Rafah.
“The IDF continues to call on Gazans to obey the IDF instructions and not approach the forces deployed to the area,” the military said.
The incident came amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas reached in January after some 15 months of fighting sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, when terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
Israeli troops have so far withdrawn from much of the Strip, including the Netzarim Corridor, which separates the north and south of the enclave. The IDF is still stationed along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The deal does not require Israel to begin withdrawing from that area until the end of the ceasefire’s ongoing first phase.
Hamas gunman keep watch from a building over an area before handing over Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on February 15, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Saturday released three hostages, and Israel released hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, in accordance with the deal.
Hamas had said last Monday it would delay the release, prompting US President Donald Trump to suggest Israel issue an ultimatum and demand the release of all hostages.
The terror group accused Israel of violating the truce, including by not allowing mobile homes and earthmoving equipment into the rubble-strewn Strip.
Despite images of those materials lined up outside the Rafah Border Crossing into southern Gaza late last week, Hebrew media reported Sunday morning that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not given permission for the materials to enter the enclave.
Netanyahu has thus far refused to allow Israel’s negotiators to engage in talks on the agreement’s second phase, which would see the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war.
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