IAF kills Gaza terrorist who threatened ground forces

In a separate statement, the military said troops in the southern Strip discovered a Hamas weapons depot containing a “large amount” of firearms, an RPG, and explosives.

By JNS

The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday eliminated a terrorist in Gaza who posed a threat to ground troops in the northern Strip, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Soldiers operating under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire “identified a terrorist who crossed the Yellow Line and approached the troops, posing an imminent threat to their safety,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

The Yellow Line is a boundary established by the IDF under the ceasefire agreement with Hamas that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025.

Concrete barriers topped with yellow-painted posts mark the area to which the IDF has withdrawn. The Yellow Line leaves Israel in control of roughly half of the Palestinian coastal enclave.

“Following the identification, the IAF eliminated the terrorist to neutralize the threat,” the military said Tuesday.

“IDF troops in the Southern Command remain deployed under the ceasefire agreement and continue to operate to address any immediate threats.”

In a separate statement Tuesday, the military said troops in the southern Strip discovered a Hamas weapons depot containing a “large amount” of firearms, an RPG, and explosives.

“IDF troops will continue to operate to eliminate the terrorists hiding in the tunnels,” the statement added.

On Sunday, the IAF carried out airstrikes across Gaza in response to truce violations, killing terrorists, including one who infiltrated the Jewish state as part of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.

The military said in a statement on Sunday night that that it “views any violation of the ceasefire agreement with utmost severity,” and vowed to continue operating against “any attempt by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip to carry out attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”

The targeted terrorists were said to have been attempting “to reestablish the military capabilities of the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip and to advance terrorist attacks.”

In one of the strikes, the Israeli Air Force killed terrorist Ahmad Bayouk, who infiltrated the IDF’s Re’im base during the Oct. 7 assault, the military said, sharing a photo of Bayouk inside Israeli territory.

Phase 2 of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza calls for Hamas terrorists to lay down arms and the deployment of an International Stabilization Force to the Strip.

Trump warned on Jan. 21 that Hamas would be “blown away very quickly” if it fails to disarm during the current phase.

However, top Hamas leaders, including Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk, have rejected key parts of the peace plan in recent weeks, including disarmament, despite having agreed to it in October.

Hamas’s charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and references parts of the Quran that call for Muslims to kill Jews.