JERUSALEM, Israel – As the world focuses on Iran, the end to the war in Gaza is at a stalemate, with no new developments in the disarmament of Hamas. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman tells CBN News that the current ceasefire there is not holding up.
Escorted by the IDF, we visited an outpost in central Gaza, just 200 yards from the Yellow Line, which separates the Israeli-controlled area from the area controlled by Hamas. Troops here say Hamas skirmishes and attacks occur regularly despite the ceasefire.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani explained, “In this area specifically, and all across the Yellow Line, Hamas keeps testing the Yellow Line on a daily basis –they’re testing our troops – even carrying out attacks just this week, severely injuring one of our troops.”
The objectives for these Israeli soldiers are defending the Yellow Line and finding, then dismantling, Hamas’s vast tunnel network, where more than half have yet to be discovered.
“This may be the world’s largest terror tunnel infrastructure in history, and this is something that is going to take time to find all of them and to deal with all of them, and we are not even talking about the tunnels that are across the Yellow Line. We are not even dealing with them right now.”
Here in Gaza, implementing the disarmament of Hamas has remained unclear, with Israeli officials increasingly believing that stripping the terror group of its weapons will be impossible without the IDF taking military action.
“One thing is clear,” Shoshani cautioned, “They do not want to disarm, even though they committed to it. And somebody needs to make them.”
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In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from his seventh meeting with President Trump. He indicated that he’s skeptical that a good deal could be worked out with Iran.
He declared, “If indeed an agreement is reached, then it must include the elements that are very important from our perspective, from Israel’s perspective, and in my view, not only Israel’s. It is not only the nuclear issue; it is also the ballistic missiles and also the Iranian proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen.)”
While the groundwork for talks with Iran continues, the Israeli Navy is conducting drills with its warships, as President Trump confirmed through a post on Truth Social that a second aircraft carrier is being deployed to the Middle East.
“We have to make a deal. Otherwise, it is going to be very traumatic, very traumatic,” Trump insisted.
The Trump administration has denied stirring up further protests in Iran, but did admit that it smuggled thousands of Starlink terminals into the country to counter the Internet blackout imposed by the regime.
