4 Gazans said killed after Israeli deadline passes for gunmen to leave IDF-held zone

Hamas medical officials said Friday that four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, including one on the terror group’s side of the Gaza ceasefire line, after an Israeli deadline passed for Hamas fighters to withdraw from the IDF-controlled side of the so-called Yellow Line.

According to the Hamas-affiliated Safa news agency, a man was killed when the IDF targeted the northern Gaza refugee camp of Jabalia. Two others were killed by Israeli gunfire in Gaza City’s Jala’ Road and eastern Shejaiya neighborhood, and a fourth was killed by an IDF strike in Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis in the Strip’s south.

Another man was killed from injuries sustained in a Wednesday IDF strike, Safa said. Except for Jala’ Road, the locations are all east of the Yellow Line, within the roughly 53% of the Strip controlled by the IDF after its initial October 10 withdrawal as part of the ceasefire.

In Jabalia, the army said troops attempted to “distance” a suspect who approached them, but after he ignored the warnings and continued to approach, “posing an imminent threat,” the forces opened fire. There was no immediate IDF comment on the other incidents. It says it remains deployed in Gaza “in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”

Egyptian and Qatari mediators had notified Hamas on Wednesday night that the group had 24 hours to evacuate its fighters from the Israeli-controlled eastern half of Gaza or risk being exposed to IDF fire, a US official told The Times of Israel. That deadline expired at 8 p.m. local time Thursday evening, at which point Israel had the approval of the US, Egypt and Qatar to engage Hamas targets on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line, the US official said.

A source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that the demarcation had not been fully enforced to date and that it was not always clear to troops on the ground where the line ran in various parts of Gaza, given that it was only drawn up several weeks ago for the ceasefire deal.

Israel had already publicly warned Hamas operatives holed up on the eastern side of the Yellow Line to withdraw last week. The military has assessed that there are Hamas operatives still in the terror group’s tunnels in areas under IDF control, and that they have been there since before the ceasefire.

Two deadly attacks on Israeli troops in Rafah during the ceasefire were carried out by terror operatives. Hamas denied responsibility, saying “communication has been cut off” with its operatives in zones under Israeli control. Israel accused Hamas in both cases of violating the ceasefire.

After the latest attack on Tuesday, the IDF launched a series of strikes that killed over 100 people, according to Hamas, before saying on Wednesday that it was resuming the ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Kan news reported that Hamas teams had resumed searching for bodies of deceased hostages in territory controlled by the IDF — operations previously halted after Tuesday’s deadly Rafah attack. Channel 12 news reported that in past searches, Hamas operatives had recovered weaponry inside IDF-held areas instead of actually searching for bodies.

According to Kan, Hamas operatives were being accompanied by Red Cross personnel and were searching in Khan Younis.

Gaza’s health ministry said the Red Cross had delivered to it 30 bodies of Palestinians killed by Israel during the war, a day after Hamas handed over two bodies of hostages.

Under the ceasefire accord, Hamas released all living hostages held in Gaza in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and wartime detainees, while Israel agreed to pull back its troops, halt its offensive and increase aid.