CAIRO, Feb 9 - Israeli forces said on Monday that they killed four militants in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, after the fighters emerged from an underground tunnel and opened fire on troops. Israel characterized the exchange as a breach of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that went into effect in Gaza last October and said it regarded the incident with the "utmost gravity."
The military noted that similar actions have previously prompted Israeli responses, including airstrikes across the enclave that have killed dozens of people. There was no immediate public comment from Hamas. However, some sources close to the group identified one of those killed in the Rafah confrontation as Anas Annashar, who is described by those sources as the son of a former senior Hamas politician.
Dozens of Hamas fighters remain trapped in tunnels beneath Rafah since the ceasefire took effect, and some of those fighters have been killed in subsequent clashes with Israeli forces, the report said.
Separately, local health authorities in the central Gaza Strip reported that Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian farmer in Deir Al-Balah. Israel did not immediately comment on that incident.
Violence has repeatedly upended the ceasefire, with both sides trading accusations of truce violations. International actors, including Washington, have been pressing both parties to move forward to subsequent phases of the ceasefire agreement, steps that are intended to produce a more lasting end to the conflict.
The next phase outlined under President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan calls for resolving contentious matters such as the disarmament of Hamas - a long-standing demand that the group has rejected - a further Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.
Casualty figures cited by Gaza health authorities place the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire deal at at least 580. Over the same period, Israel reports that four soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza. The broader Gaza war began with the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people. Palestinian health ministry data states the death toll in Gaza now stands at over 71,000.
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