Hamas operatives tried to raid an Israel Defense Forces position on the southern outskirts of Gaza City on Wednesday, the military said, the latest in a series of recent attempts by the group to attack army sites in the Strip.
The incident took place at an army encampment near the Netzarim Corridor area of central Gaza, south of Gaza City, where troops of the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit were stationed.
Five Hamas gunmen emerged from a tunnel and approached the post, according to preliminary findings by the military.
The IDF said the troops, with air support from the Israeli Air Force, struck and killed at least three of the gunmen. Scans were being carried out to locate the other two operatives, who, according to an initial IDF probe, likely fled back into the tunnel.
The military said no soldiers were injured in the incident. It also published images showing weapons left behind by some of the gunmen.
Defense Minister Israel Katz had visited troops in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood shortly before Hamas launched an attack on the nearby army position.
Katz’s office said the defense minister was briefed by commanders on the IDF’s activities in the area and he “praised them for their powerful actions, which created the conditions for negotiations to secure the release of all the hostages and the achievement of the war’s objectives.”
The attack came amid ongoing indirect ceasefire talks in Egypt between Israel and Hamas. Both Palestinian and Israeli sources said Wednesday that the sides are close to inking a deal on ending the war in Gaza.
Hamas in recent weeks have stepped up its attacks on army encampments in Gaza. Military officials believe the terror group is seeking to capture soldiers or cause heavy casualties to the IDF to influence the talks.
On October 2, during Yom Kippur, a Hamas gunman managed to breach an army post in Israel’s buffer zone in central Gaza — some 800 meters from the Israeli border — and open fire on troops, the IDF said.
After a gun battle with the soldiers at the post, the gunman was killed. An officer was seriously wounded, and two other troops, including a reservist, were lightly injured in the battle, according to the military.
Days earlier, on September 30, a Hamas gunman who approached an Israeli army position in Gaza City was killed by troops, the military said.
A day prior, on September 29, Hamas made two attempts to raid an army encampment in Gaza City. In the first attempt, two gunmen were identified approaching the position and were killed in a drone strike, the IDF said.
An hour later, a cell of five Hamas operatives managed to breach the encampment and set off two explosive devices against a tank. Troops at the encampment exchanged fire with the gunmen, killing at least two of them — one by tank shelling and one in a close-quarters gun battle, according to the IDF.
The attack left five soldiers seriously injured and six others lightly hurt.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, and the chief of the Ground Forces, Maj. Gen. Nadav Lotan, ordered the establishment of a panel of experts to examine an accidental grenade blast in the southern Gaza Strip a day prior, which wounded three reservists, including two seriously.
The military said the team will be headed by the commander of the 5th Reserve Brigade, a colonel.
The incident took place at around 8 a.m. on Tuesday at an IDF post in the Khan Younis area. A grenade exploded due to unclear circumstances inside a room where soldiers were residing and sleeping.
The IDF on Saturday paused all offensive operations in Gaza, with Israeli and Hamas representatives in Egypt for indirect negotiations on the return of the remaining 48 hostages, the release of Palestinian security prisoners, and an end to the war.