IDF forces have begun ground operations in the northern Gaza Strip, while the IDF and Shin Bet continue waves of strikes across the region. Photo: IDF Telegram
On Saturday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops began conducting ground activity in the Al Janina neighborhood in Rafah, in order to expand the security zone in southern Gaza. As part of the activity, the troops dismantled Hamas terrorist infrastructure in the neighborhood.
At the same time, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) continue to carry out aerial strikes on Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip.
Among the terror targets struck over the weekend were weapons storage facilities, rocket launchers, military structures from which terrorists were operating, and additional sites of terror infrastructure.
The IDF also attacked sites in the area of Khan Younis which had been used by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group to launch mortars towards Israeli territory.
Since the end of the previous hostage-ceasefire deal, Hamas and PIJ have resumed rocket fire toward Israel. Last week, there were several launches towards Israel, including two launches targeting the Tel Aviv area. The IDF also reported that several launches misfired, falling in the Gaza Strip. In previous conflicts around 11% of all Hamas and PIJ rocket fire has fallen in the Strip.
IDF Arabic Spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee issued a warning on social media, instructing residents of the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis to flee to the humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi ahead of further IDF strikes and activity.
#عاجل ‼️ إلى جميع سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في منطقة عبسان والقرارة وخربة خزاعة
🔴هذا انذار مسبق وأخير قبل الغارات!🔴
⭕️تعود المنظمات الإرهابية وتطلق قذائفها الصاروخية من بين المدنيين.
⭕️لقد حذرنا هذه المنطقة مرات عديدة.
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم عليكم الانتقال بشكل فوري غربًا نحو مراكز… pic.twitter.com/aZ3CLDr0iY
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) March 29, 2025
On Saturday, there was an explosion involving a D9 bulldozer in the central Gaza Strip, which caused no injuries. The IDF is investigating the incident, but preliminary assessments indicate it could have come from old, unexploded ordnance.
The strikes come as part of the gradual expansion of ground activity in the Gaza Strip, and in parallel with reports of a new Egyptian proposal for a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The Qatari newspaper Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, citing sources in Egypt, reported that Hamas agreed to an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire, according to which it would release Israeli-American hostage Idan Alexander, and four other hostages, some of them alive, and in return, humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter and negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement would begin.
The expansion of ground activity has also included the northern Gaza Strip. On Friday, soldiers from the 401st Brigade completed the destruction of the Nasser neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip. The Nasser neighborhood overlooked the communities of Sderot and Netiv Ha’asara. While much of the neighborhood had already been destroyed during previous fighting, the IDF troops leveled the remains of buildings with compromised structures or from which the forces had detected terror activity.
The IDF also reported that over the past few days, during an IDF and ISA operation in the Gaza Strip, soldiers located and recovered findings associated with the body of Manny Menachem Goddard , who was murdered and kidnapped by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization on Oct. 7, 2023. Despite the recovered findings, his body is still being held in the Gaza Strip.
The findings were retrieved from an Islamic Jihad outpost area in Rafah.
After an identification process conducted by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police, IDF representatives informed the Goddard family.
Palestinian sources reported that Hamas has begun to crack down on the group that started the protests last week. While Hamas originally ignored the protests, before attempting to dismiss them as being instigated by “outside elements,” on Thursday evening and Friday, the group reportedly began to respond seriously.
Palestinian families of several of the protest organizers reported receiving threatening phone calls and several people were summoned by Hamas security forces and threatened with physical harm if the protests were not stopped.
On Saturday, the family of Palestinian activist Odai Nasser Saadi Al-Rubai, one of the leaders of last week’s anti-Hamas protests in Gaza, said his body was dumped at the doorstep of their home. According to photos and video released by the family, Odai was beaten and abused before being killed.
🚨 BREAKING: Hamas militias have killed 22-year-old Odai Naser Saadi, one of the leaders of the anti-Hamas protest movement in Gaza.
He was kidnapped, tortured for four hours, and then executed. His body was dumped at the doorstep of his family’s home, with a chilling message:… pic.twitter.com/GfeMpmhljX
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) March 29, 2025
Meanwhile, the Hamas-affiliated Gaza Now announced on its Telegram channel that Hamas killed six “collaborators” for involvement in the anti-Hamas demonstrations.
Screenshot of Gaza Now English channel announcing execution of ‘collaborators.’
Screenshot used under Section 27a of the copyright law.
The terror group also reportedly forced a group of clan elders (mukhtars) to issue a statement condemning the demonstrations which they had previously supported, as the terror group attempts to reinforce its control over the Strip.
