The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, announced they had killed Basel Nabil Abd Al-Rahman Kashta and Ahmad Raja Al-Shaer in Khan Yunis for alleged involvement in smuggling weapons and other military assets into Gaza, according to a joint statement. According to the statement, the two were killed to eliminate “an immediate threat to Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in the Yellow Line area”. The IDF and Shin Bet added that precise munitions and aerial surveillance were used to mitigate unnecessary harm to civilians.
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Nickolay Mladenov, director-general of the Peace Council, said on Thursday that he had received a letter from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) informing him of the suspension of coordination for private-sector goods entering Gaza. Mladenov called the suspension unacceptable and said that “civilian supplies, humanitarian assistance and commercial activity must be protected from coercion, exploitation and interference”. Gazan merchants told COGAT that they had made the decision in response to a 10,000 shekel ($3,220) fee imposed by Hamas on each truck entering Gaza and a demand that 30% of all their sales in Gaza be carried out in cash, according to The Jerusalem Post.
An explosion struck the Jbessa gas pipeline in southern Hasakah province in the late afternoon, hours after damage to a pipeline carrying oil products from the coastal city of Baniyas to Homs caused a fuel leak, Al Jazeera reported, citing SANA. The state-run Syrian Petroleum Company said the gas pipeline had been targeted in a “sabotage attack”, according to SANA.