IDF says it struck Hamas operatives after gunmen emerged from tunnel in Rafah

Times of Israel · Feb 27, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Hamas’s civil defense agency reported seven people killed in IDF strikes in Gaza on Friday, as the military said it struck Hamas operatives throughout the Strip after several Palestinian gunmen emerged from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah. According to Palestinian media, five people were killed in pre-dawn IDF strikes on facilities of the Hamas-run police stations in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis and central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp. Hamas, in a statement, confirmed that “some police sites were targeted tonight and several officers killed,” and accused Israel of committing a “blatant [ceasefire] violation under false pretenses.” Another two people were reportedly killed in separate IDF strikes in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya in the morning and in a displaced people’s camp in Khan Younis in the afternoon. Khan Younis resident Ahmad Mohammad Joudeh said of the people killed in Khan Younis overnight that “Israeli aircraft bombed them mercilessly, without warning, without knowing whether they were civilians or soldiers.” Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories By signing up, you agree to the terms “You just need to move, to meet with your neighbor, to gather with friends late at night at one or three in the morning, and they will strike you,” he said. Mourners pray over the body of a Palestinian policeman who was killed in an IDF strike, at Nasser Hospital, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, February 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Maher Shabat, an eyewitness, described the moment the drone struck in the early hours of Friday. “Young people started screaming, ‘Save us! Save us!’ We ran to reach them and arrived in that area, and they told us to go back, not to approach, because the drone was still overhead,” he told AFP. According to the IDF, the strikes Friday came in response to a ceasefire violation in which armed operatives emerged from a tunnel on the Israeli-controlled side of the ceasefire line in Rafah on Thursday. Troops of the Golani Brigade who are stationed in the area spotted the operatives and directed an airstrike that “eliminated several of the terrorists,” the IDF said. Dozens of Hamas operatives were believed to be trapped underground in the eastern Rafah area, on the Israeli side of the so-called Yellow Line. The IDF has reported killing or capturing some 50 of them in recent months. The military believes that at least 60 percent of Hamas’s estimated 550- to 650-kilometer (350-400 miles) tunnel network across the Strip is still intact. On Thursday, the IDF said it had recently demolished five kilometers (three miles) of Hamas tunnels in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun. In one tunnel, troops were said to have found surveillance equipment and an arms cache that included explosive devices, firearms, RPGs, grenades and ammunition. The IDF also said Thursday night that it struck and killed several “terrorists” after they crossed the Yellow Line in the Strip’s north earlier in the day. According to the IDF, the operatives crossed the ceasefire line and approached reservists of the 205th “Iron Fist” Reserve Armored Brigade, “in a manner that posed an immediate threat.” The ground troops who identified the operatives directed an airstrike, which “eliminated some of the terrorists in order to remove the threat,” said the military. Another alleged terror operative was also killed by Golani Brigade soldiers in southern Gaza after he crossed the Yellow Line and approached them “in a manner that posed an immediate threat,” the IDF said earlier Thursday. Meanwhile, Palestinian media on Thursday reported two Palestinians killed by IDF gunfire in eastern Gaza City. Family members identified the slain men as Muhammad Abu Jabal and Ali al-Burdini, and said both were members of Hamas. The IDF did not comment on the incident. Since the start of the ceasefire in October, the IDF has said it has killed dozens of terror operatives and other “suspects” who have crossed the Yellow Line — demarcating the military’s withdrawal in the Strip — and approached troops. Such incidents have taken place on a near-daily basis. Mourners carry the bodies of Hamas members Muhammad Abu Jabal and Ali al-Burdini, who were reportedly killed in an IDF strike in Gaza City, at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, February 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, at least 618 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces amid the ceasefire. The toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The ministry says Israel has killed more than 72,000 people in Gaza since the war there was sparked by the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, in which thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. The Israeli military believes that the Hamas ministry’s overall toll is largely accurate, with IDF officials estimating that two to three civilians were killed for every dead terror operative. The IDF says it has killed over 23,000 combatants in Gaza and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques. Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.