Emerging from underground: Israeli manhunt for five gunmen in southern Gaza

30th January 2026

1 minute read

Emerging from underground: Israeli manhunt for five gunmen in southern Gaza

Israel is continuing a manhunt for five gunmen whom Tel Aviv says emerged from underground infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip.

On Friday morning, the Israeli army announced that it had targeted eight individuals overnight in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, stating that three of them were killed.

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In a statement, the army said its forces detected, before dawn, eight individuals who had “emerged from underground infrastructure” east of Rafah, adding that the air force killed three of them.

The incident occurred in the vicinity of the Rafah border crossing, whose reopening is eagerly awaited by Gaza’s exhausted population.

The statement added that additional strikes were carried out toward areas to which the remaining individuals attempted to flee, and that troops “are continuing search operations in the area.”

The army confirmed that “forces remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to act to eliminate any immediate threat,” without disclosing information about the type of weapons carried by the group.

The Gaza ceasefire plan, reached under U.S. pressure and which came into force on October 10, provides in its first phase for the release of all hostages held in the enclave, a step that has already been completed.

The second phase of the plan the disarmament of Hamas, the gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army, which still controls around half of the Gaza Strip, and the deployment of an international force.