Hamas terrorists and Israeli troops exchanged fire on several occasions on Thursday, testing the terms of a recent and tenuous ceasefire and hostage exchange.
No Israelis were wounded in the skirmishes, which the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said happened as troops “operated against threats posed to them in Gaza, in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire agreement.”
In several places, the troops identified “suspects approaching them and fired warning shots toward the suspects, who then retreated,” the Spokesperson’s Unit statement said. It did not say whether anyone was hit by the shots fired.
In southern Gaza, several armed individuals were identified “moving suspiciously near IDF troops,” who then fired toward the suspects, the statement also said.
In Rafah, troops identified an armed individual within a structure. He posed a “threat to the troops located in the area, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement,” so they shot in his direction, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. Israel will “continue to take all necessary actions to thwart any immediate threat to IDF soldiers,” the statement said.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump, whose mediators helped negotiate the ceasefire that went into effect the previous day, told reporters at the White House he was not confident that the truce deal would hold through all three phases. Earlier, he said: “If they respect us, it will hold. If they don’t respect us, all hell will break out.” He also said “it better hold.”
The ceasefire is part of a deal whose first phase features Israel releasing at least 733 imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, plus more than 1,000 detainees, in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages, alive or dead, out of 97 who had been held captive by Hamas when the deal was reached. Three of those hostages—women—were returned to Israel on Sunday. Four additional female hostages are scheduled to be released on Saturday night.
