The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Wednesday called on mediating countries to pressure Israel to allow dozens of its fighters to leave the tunnels where they are trapped in the Gaza Strip. This request comes after the Israeli military announced last week that it had killed more than 20 Hamas members who were trying to flee the underground terror infrastructure in the area, and had arrested eight others.
We hold Israel fully responsible for the lives of our fighters, and we call on the mediators to act immediately to exert pressure and ensure that our sons can return home, Hamas said in a statement. This is the first time the Islamist group has publicly acknowledged that some of its fighters are trapped in tunnels. Israeli media have been reporting for several weeks that 100 to 200 Hamas members are trapped in the underground network of Rafah, in an area now under Israeli military control.
According to the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States and which came into effect on October 10, the Israeli army must withdraw from the coastal part of the Palestinian territory, beyond a yellow line delimiting the area under Israeli control.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff mentioned in November, during a conference in Miami, the 200 fighters who are trapped in Rafah, believing that their surrender could constitute a test for the implementation of the ceasefire by Israel and Hamas.
🔴 Breaking: U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff confirms that Washington is pressing Israel to allow safe passage for roughly 100–200 Hamas fighters in exchange for surrendering their weapons. He says he’s been in contact with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Israeli Minister Ron…
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) November 6, 2025
Israel, however, does not appear willing to negotiate a safe passage. An Israeli government spokesperson told AFP in November that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not allow the safe passage of 200 Hamas terrorists, reiterating his commitment to dismantling Hamas's military capabilities and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip.
In its statement on Wednesday, Hamas accused Israel of violating the terms of the ceasefire by searching for, liquidating and arresting resistance fighters besieged in the Rafah tunnels.
These are the tunnels of Hamas. Look how deep underground they are, this one is 60 meters below the surface
— ONE (@One_Dawah) October 31, 2023
They are not under hospitals or houses, as Israel claims to justify civilians killing
New Israeli army offensive in the occupied West Bank
The Israeli army announced Wednesday the launch of a new operation against Palestinian armed groups in the northern occupied West Bank, where AFP journalists saw soldiers deployed in the city and governorate of Toubas. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported no gunshot casualties but said at least ten people were wounded after being beaten by soldiers. The army, contacted by AFP, did not respond.
The operation, launched overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, is based, according to Israel, on intelligence aimed at preventing attempts to establish strongholds in the region. It was preceded by airstrikes, according to a military statement.
The army claims to have also killed a fighter who threw an explosive towards (Israeli) troops operating in the Qabatiya region, in the Jenin Governorate, near Toubas.
Reached by telephone, the Palestinian governor of Toubas, Ahmad Assaad, reported raids in several locations: the city of Toubas, Tammoun, Tayassir, and the Faraa refugee camp. In Faraa, according to him, soldiers used a combat aircraft and opened fire with heavy machine guns on residential buildings.
AFP journalists confirmed the presence of Israeli soldiers in the streets of Toubas, where most shops were closed. In Tammoun, a little further south, the military set up roadblocks at the entrances to the town.
Searches of houses and evacuations of civilians
According to the army, dozens of facilities were searched and suspects questioned. A control room was located and terrorist funds were confiscated, a statement added, without mentioning any arrests.
AUDIO 🎧 Occupied West Bank: Who are the "hilltop barbarians" attacking Palestinians and defying the Israeli army? https://t.co/RNnE1hN1Ku
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) November 26, 2025
The governorate of Toubas, which is predominantly agricultural, is located in the northeast of the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than two dozen families have been forced to evacuate their homes, now occupied by the Israeli army.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad denounced this operation, which they present as a new element of a plan to annex the West Bank, a plan claimed by several far-right Israeli ministers.
In February, the Israeli army had already conducted an operation in the Faraa camp, resulting, according to local authorities, in the displacement of hundreds of residents. In September, another offensive in the same area led to the deaths of several armed men, whom the army accused of planning an attack.
The Israeli army launches a major operation in the northern West Bank
— RFI (@RFI) November 26, 2025
➡️ https://t.co/aK7OlnlNJ2 pic.twitter.com/MInkWCxwk9
Violence has exploded in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel. Since then, more than a thousand Palestinians—combatants and civilians—have been killed by soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian Authority.
At the same time, at least 44 Israelis — civilians and soldiers — were killed in Palestinian attacks or during military raids, according to official Israeli data.
Despite the truce that came into effect in Gaza on October 10, violence has not ceased in the West Bank. OCHA recorded a peak in settler attacks in October that caused casualties, property damage, or both, the highest in nearly twenty years.
On November 10, an Israeli was killed and three others wounded in a knife attack carried out by two Palestinians who were quickly shot dead by soldiers near Bethlehem.
