Israel indicates it does not want ceasefire collapse amid flareup

In consultations with Defense Minister Israel Katz and senior security officials this evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided that Israel will respond “fiercely” to Hamas’s deadly attack on IDF troops in southern Gaza today, while maintaining the necessary momentum to secure the return of the remaining slain hostages from Gaza under the first phase of Washington’s ceasefire framework, Channel 12 reports.

A security official tells the network that “Israel does not want to bring about the collapse of the ceasefire… There is simply a straightforward equation of a violation and a response — and this will continue as long as Hamas keeps violating the agreement.”

The same official also warns that the area between the yellow line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — and the Egyptian border is “a hotspot for potential escalation.”

“It is ostensibly under Israeli control, but [in underground tunnels that remain operative] Hamas terrorists are hiding — trying to harass Israeli forces under cover of the ceasefire, even without explicit orders from their commanders,” according to the official.