Israel says troops fire on gunmen in Gaza as ceasefire enters 5th day, deadly West Bank operation continues

Tel Aviv — Testing the bounds of a fragile ceasefire in its fifth day, Israel’s military said Thursday that forces had opened fire in the southern Gaza Strip on masked, armed suspects who posed a threat to their safety. The Israel Defense Forces, in a statement, reported incidents east of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and in the area of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, through which aid trucks have been delivering more food, water and medical supplies since the ceasefire took effect. 

The IDF said it had killed one militant with the Islamic Jihad group and that while Israel remained “determined to fully maintain the terms of the [ceasefire] agreement in order to return the hostages,” it was also “prepared for any scenario and will continue to take all necessary actions to thwart any immediate threat to IDF soldiers.”

There was no immediate response to the incident from Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Hours before the IDF confirmed the operation in southern Gaza, newly-sworn-in U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told the Israeli leader that “maintaining the United States’ steadfast support for Israel is a top priority for President Trump,” according to a readout of the call.

Rubio made a series of calls to foreign ministers around the world, but Netanyahu was the first head of state he spoke with, according to readouts provided by the State Department. The two men also discussed freeing the remaining 94 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, of whom seven are Israeli-Americans, and addressing threats from Iran, though the State Department offered no specifics.

Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry has not reported any new deaths since the ceasefire took hold, but the official toll has continued to rise as rescue and recovery teams, and ordinary citizens, find more bodies and, in some cases, piles of bones, in the rubble of the devastated Palestinian enclave.

The ministry said that, as of Thursday, its tally showed more than 47,200 people had been killed during the war that was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, which saw militants kill approximately 1,200 people and kidnap 251 others. In Gaza, the remains of more than 160 people have been recovered since the ceasefire began on Sunday, the ministry said.

Thousands more bodies are still believed to be under collapsed buildings in the enclave, which was home to some 2.3 million people before the war. The media office of Gaza’s Hamas-run administration said Thursday that about 14,000 people remained missing. 

Faster recovery efforts, along with the distribution of aid, have been hampered due to a lack of functioning heavy equipment in the strip and its decimated infrastructure, according to rescue workers and aid agencies. 

As of Wednesday, the U.N. said 808 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including food, fuel and medical supplies, had entered the strip since the ceasefire took effect. But the ceasefire and hostage release agreement negotiated by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt called for 600 trucks to enter the territory every day.

Hamas has said it will release four more hostages — Israeli women — on Saturday. The initial exchange on Sunday saw three captives set free in exchange for about 90 Palestinian prisoners, who were let out of an Israeli prison in the occupied West Bank. Israel is expected to free 200 more Palestinian detainees in the next exchange this weekend.

Meanwhile, a “large-scale” military offensive launched by the IDF in the West Bank earlier this week continued overnight, focused in and around the sprawling Jenin refugee camp in the north of the Palestinian territory. 

The IDF says it has killed two men in the “Iron Wall” operation who were linked to the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad group, claiming the men shot and killed three Israelis in a bus attack two weeks ago in the West Bank. 

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank, which is not controlled by Hamas like Gaza, said Wednesday that 10 Palestinians had been killed amid the IDF’s new operation. 

“Iron Wall” has been a major show of force by the IDF in Jenin, an area of the West Bank long considered by Israel to be a stronghold of Iranian-backed militant groups. Since the ceasefire in Gaza took effect, the IDF has redirected its focus — and firepower — to the West Bank. 

One of President Trump’s many initial moves as he began his second term this week was to withdraw Biden-era sanctions imposed on Israeli settlers deemed a threat to security in the West Bank.

Domestically, for Prime Minister Netanyahu, the West Bank offensive may be aimed at least partly at placating a segment of his support base — including far-right members of his own cabinet — who have been infuriated by the ceasefire deal with Hamas. 

Israel’s former National Security Minister, the right-wing nationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, resigned in protest over the deal, saying it was giving in to terror. 

If the country’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, another far-right cabinet member, were to resign, then Netanyahu’s fragile coalition government would fall apart. Early national elections would then have to be called in the country, which could imperil Netanyahu’s own long grip on political power.