Click to see full-size image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it killed four Palestinian fighters and captured two others in the southern Gaza Strip on November 26, amid a ceasefire brokered by the United States.
Israeli troops monitoring surveillance cameras spotted the six fighters after they emerged from tunnels in the eastern part of the area of Rafah, the IDF said in a statement, adding that Israeli Air Force then carried out an airstrike against the fighters, and troops of the Nahal Brigade were dispatched to the area to carry out scans.
According to the military, airstrikes killed one of the fighters and three others were later located and killed by the Nahal Brigade.
The two remaining fighters were then located and captured by Israeli troops, the military said, without identifying the group to which the fighters belong.
Click to see full-size image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
Click to see full-size image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
Dozens of fighters from the Hamas Movement are believed to be trapped in Rafah, which is occupied by the IDF. The group has so far shown commitment to the peace plan proposed by the U.S. President Donald Trump, which put the ceasefire in place early in October. It has already released all the living hostages, and in the process of handing over all the remains of the hostages who were killed in Gaza. Still, Israel has refused to allow the trapped fighters to withdraw.
The IDF has vowed to kill or capture all the remaining fighters on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line that divides Gaza, claiming that this was inline with the ceasefire.
In the past week, the military has reported killing over 20 fighters and capturing a further eight, after they tried to flee from the tunnels in Rafah.
The IDF’s latest attack came just a day after Hamas handed over the dead body of another hostage, which left the remains of only two others in Gaza.
The peace plan proposed by Trump calls for the disarmament of Hamas. The group has not yet outright accepted this term, but there are more indications that could take this step.
In a report published on November 25, the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat said that Hamas leaders both inside and outside Gaza are debating what the group’s future should look like, and are potentially open to discussing disarmament.
According to the report, which cites unnamed sources within Hamas, one proposal being examined by the group’s leadership suggests dissolving its armed wing and reinventing itself as solely a political organization “capable of taking part in political, economic, social and general public life.”
The proposal also calls for Hamas to become a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), chaired by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the sources said, noting that joining the PLO would allow the group to become “an important political actor” alongside other Palestinian political parties, thus reviving the political process in the Palestinian territories.
The source also acknowledged that Hamas leaders have already been discussing the possibility of disarming with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, and even said that this issue has been broached indirectly with the United States.
Nevertheless, the sources noted that should Hamas decide to disarm, it would only do so “through a Palestinian national agreement” and would not allow Israel or the United Nations to get involved.
While Hamas is showing commitment to the peace plan, and appears to be open even to the most difficult issues, it is not clear yet if Israel will even end up withdrawing from the Strip.
Israeli security officials warned cabinet ministers in recent days that Hamas has asserted almost total control over parts of Gaza it rules, Channel 13 news reported on November 26. Senior IDF officers are quoted in the report as calling for Israel to develop its own plans to demilitarize Gaza, saying that the U.S. proposal for doing so is insufficient.
Another report from The New York Times that was released a day earlier revealed that the Trump administration is advocating for the swift construction of residential compounds in Israeli-occupied areas in Gaza that would provide housing to Palestinians. This also indicates that an Israeli withdrawal from the Strip is not guaranteed.
All in all, the war in Gaza will not likely resume any time soon. However, there are also no indications of the IDF casing its military operations and withdrawing from the Strip. Israel’s real intentions will likely appear once the last of the hostages’ remains are handed over by Hamas.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
