Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating near the ceasefire line in the southern Gaza Strip killed a terrorist who approached them “in a manner that posed an immediate threat,” the IDF said on Thursday.
Combat soldiers of the 188th “Barak” Armored Brigade “identified a terrorist in the Yellow Line area who approached the forces,” the statement continued. “Immediately following the identification, troops attacked and eliminated the terrorist in order to remove the threat.”
The Yellow Line is a demarcation established by the IDF as part of the U.S.-brokered truce deal with Hamas that went into effect in October.
Concrete barriers topped with a yellow-painted post mark the area to which the IDF has withdrawn. The Yellow Line leaves Israel in control of approximately half of the coastal enclave.
IDF troops “are deployed in the area in accordance with the [ceasefire] agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” Thursday’s statement concluded.
National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz—a former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, defense minister and War Cabinet member turned opposition lawmaker—on Thursday said it was time to “cross the Yellow Line” to disarm Hamas.
“We are months into discussions on Phase 2, and there has been no progress toward Hamas agreeing to disarm,” he tweeted, in reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas cannot be granted immunity beyond the Yellow Line,” Gantz wrote, adding that the Jewish state “cannot accept a situation in which half of the Gaza Strip is still controlled by Hamas as it rebuilds its rule.
“Hamas will not disarm or relinquish power voluntarily,” he continued. “We will have to dismantle it and leave it no alternative. Now that there are no hostages in Gaza, the time to act has come.”
Trump warned on Jan. 21 that Hamas “will be blown away very quickly” if it fails to disarm under the second phase of Washington’s peace plan.
Speaking at a question-and-answer session in Davos, Switzerland, after his address to the World Economic Forum, the president said Hamas had “agreed to give up their weapons” as part of his 20-point initiative.
But Senior Hamas terrorist Musa Abu Marzouk told Qatar’s Al Jazeera on Jan. 28 that the group never agreed to disarm.
“Not for a single moment did we talk about surrendering weapons,” Abu Marzouk told the outlet, claiming the issue was never raised in the talks.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has also publicly rejected demands that the terrorists disarm, declaring on Dec. 6 that “protecting the resistance project and its weapons is the right of our people to defend themselves.
“The resistance and its weapons are the ummah‘s [Islamic nation’s] honor and pride,” the senior terrorist told an anti-Israel summit in Istanbul.
“A thousand statements are not worth a single projectile of iron,” he said.
