The Israeli army announced the killing of four Palestinian militants in Rafah. The operation took place in an area controlled by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had killed four Palestinian “terrorists” who were emerging from tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
“During the night, we identified four terrorists who left the underground infrastructure in the area. Led by the Israeli Air Force, the forces eliminated the terrorists,” the army said in a statement.
The news portal The Times of Israel (TOI) reports that Rafah is in an area controlled by Israeli troops and dozens of militants of the Palestinian Hamas movement are believed to be trapped underground. The army said its troops would continue to operate in the area to “remove any imminent threat”. It announced on Friday that it had killed more than 30 militants who tried to escape from the tunnels.
The commander was supposed to be among the victims
The military is trying to identify the victims of the attack, and defense officials believe the commander of Hamas’ eastern battalion and his deputy were among them. AFP, citing several sources, reported on Thursday that negotiations are underway regarding the fate of the fighters in the tunnels in the south of the Gaza Strip. Hamas called on mediating nations on Wednesday to put pressure on Israel to allow safe passage for the militants, the first time the movement has publicly acknowledged the problem, according to AFP.
A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas has been in effect in the Gaza Strip since October 10. Israel continues to attack in the Palestinian enclave, where its troops withdrew to the so-called yellow lines. According to a senior Hamas member, there are approximately 60 to 80 militants in the tunnels in the Israeli-controlled areas.
Both Israel and Hamas are repeatedly accused of violating the ceasefire. Gaza’s health ministry announced on Saturday that the death toll from the two-year war in the Gaza Strip had surpassed 70,100, with 354 Palestinians killed since the cease-fire began.
