IAF strikes Hamas arms storage in central Gaza

The Israeli Air Force struck and dismantled a Hamas weapons storage facility in the central Gaza Strip overnight on Tuesday, the military said on Wednesday.

The site contained weapons meant to target soldiers operating near the ceasefire-instituted Yellow Line, as well as Israeli civilians, according to the IDF statement.

The military said the airstrike was carried out to “remove the threat” posed by the terrorist organization’s weapons.

The IDF said it took measures to reduce harm to noncombatants, including by issuing advance warnings, using precise munitions and conducting aerial surveillance.

Israeli forces remain deployed in Gaza in accordance with the Oct. 10, 2025, ceasefire deal brokered by the United States and will continue to eliminate immediate threats, the statement stressed.

The current truce in the Gaza Strip ended the two-year war that began when Hamas, other Palestinian terrorist groups and Gazan “civilians” invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and taking 251 hostages.

The IDF has strengthened its hold of the Strip in recent weeks and currently controls some 60% of the enclave, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

“We are no longer holding 50%, but already 60%,” Netanyahu told reporters at a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. “We have Hamas in our grip.”

Under the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire, the IDF was given control of 53% of Gaza, east of the Yellow Line. Israel Hayom reported on May 12 that the military recently seized control of 13 more square miles, leaving the IDF in control of about 64% of the Strip. The move was reportedly carried out with approval from U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, following the failure of Hamas terrorists to disarm.