5 troops hurt in missile strike, prompting closure of road to Gaza humanitarian zone
Two soldiers in serious condition; IDF temporarily closes route from crossing to area used to deliver aid to Palestinians; PIJ fires 3 rockets at southern communities, none hurt
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday temporarily closed a route leading from the Kerem Shalom border crossing to the humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip, used to deliver aid to Palestinians, after five soldiers were wounded by Hamas fire in the area earlier in the day.
A medical officer and a reservist paramedic with the Givati Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit were seriously wounded in the incident, according to the military. In addition, an officer was moderately wounded and two more soldiers were lightly hurt.
All of the wounded soldiers were evacuated to hospitals in Israel for treatment, the military said, adding that it was seeking to kill the terror operatives behind the attack.
“Terror activity in humanitarian areas and areas where the population is concentrated harms humanitarian coordination and the distribution of aid,” the IDF said in a statement.
Deliveries along the route have been halted temporarily, “as the area has become an active combat zone,” the military added.
The Kerem Shalom Crossing, along with other entry points to the Strip including the Netzarim Corridor and two crossings in the north, remain open as usual, according to the statement.
The Kerem Shalom Crossing was closed for several days in May after four soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in a rocket strike from Gaza on a staging ground near the crossing.
On Tuesday evening, meanwhile, the IDF said that three rockets claimed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group were fired from the northern Gaza Strip at the southern towns of Ashkelon and Sderot.
One was shot down by air defenses, while the other two impacted open areas, the IDF said, adding that there were no injuries in the attack.
The strikes came as the region was on pins and needles, bracing for a reportedly imminent reprisal attack on Israel promised by Iran and its proxies after the assassinations last week of Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Hamas named Gaza Strip chief Yahya Sinwar as its new political leader on Tuesday.
Sinwar has not made any public appearances since Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza.
Two officials told The Times of Israel on Monday that negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire deal, which would see the release of the remaining 111 hostages held by terror groups in Gaza, were on hold and would not pick up until after a replacement for Haniyeh was selected and after Iran retaliates for his assassination.
Jacob Magid and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
