Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced today, Sunday, the issuance of orders to the army to move forcefully against targets belonging to the "Hamas" movement in the Gaza Strip, warning that the movement "will pay a heavy price" for any firing or violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Gallant affirmed that "Hamas will learn the hard way that the defense army is determined to protect its soldiers and prevent any harm from befalling them," adding that if the movement does not understand this message, "the severity of the reactions will increase." According to a military source, the Israeli army bombed more than 20 targets since the attack on Rafah this morning, according to the "Times of Israel" newspaper. These developments come after the army announced that "Hamas" fighters targeted engineering vehicles belonging to it in Rafah, in the south of the Strip, and Israel responded with air strikes and artillery shelling. For its part, the "Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades", the military wing of "Hamas", said that it has no knowledge of any events in Rafah. The Israeli army had earlier accused the movement of committing a "serious violation" of the ceasefire by carrying out several attacks on its forces. It stated that these incidents occurred outside the agreed-upon line known as the "Yellow Line", which is the withdrawal line of the Israeli forces inside Gaza, where the army withdrew on October 10 when the current ceasefire agreement came into effect. A military official pointed out that the Israeli forces were attacked with a rocket, and a Palestinian sniper also fired at an Israeli unit, clarifying that "the two incidents occurred in an area controlled by Israel east of the Yellow Line," considering this a "flagrant violation of the ceasefire."
