CAIRO, November 28. . Israeli forces have launched an airstrike on an area near the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where they believe armed supporters of the Palestinian Hamas movement are hiding in tunnels. This was reported by an agency close to the extremist movement Maan.
According to him, the attack was carried out “on a group consisting of 24 Hamas supporters hiding in underground tunnels near Rafah.” There was no information about possible casualties or injuries among the extremists.
Previously, the Israeli side had repeatedly spoken out about the liquidation or arrest of individuals supporting Hamas in the Rafah area, who remained behind the so-called yellow line in the area between Hamas and Israel. As Al-Qahira Al-Ikhbariya TV channel reported, the Israeli side asked the remaining Palestinians in the tunnel to surrender, and guaranteed them not only to preserve their lives, but also to be transferred to neighboring countries after a certain period of detention in Israeli prisons. However, there was no response from Hamas to such a proposal.
On Thursday, Hamas said it believed Israel's killing and detention of the group's fighters trapped in tunnels near Rafah “was a flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.” The movement called on mediators to put pressure on Israel to allow Hamas supporters to “return to their homes.”
Until now, information about the number of Hamas supporters in the underground tunnels still varies. Maan points out that we are talking about about 150 supporters of the armed group. Qatar's Al Araby TV channel reported that about 50-60 fighter jets remained near Rafah. According to The Wall Street Journal, Israel and Arab countries estimate their number at about 200-300 people.
Previously, Hamas informed mediators of its readiness to withdraw fighters from the “yellow zone” controlled by the Israeli army and transfer them to other areas in the region. However, Israel and the US do not accept this approach. The question of the future fate of members of the militant Hamas faction located in the tunnels near Rafah remains one of the most controversial issues in negotiations on the implementation of the second phase of the conflict resolution plan presented by US President Donald Trump.
