IDF destroys Hamas shaft in northern Gaza with loaded 'ready to fire' rocket aimed at Sderot

The military slammed the terror organization for breaching the ceasefire, noting that loading the launcher is a violation of the US-brokered agreement.

The IDF struck and destroyed a Hamas tunnel shaft in northern Gaza that contained a rocket launcher that was loaded and ready to fire at the southern Israeli city of Sderot, the military announced on Saturday evening.

“The shaft was used by Hamas to conceal a rocket launcher that was ready to fire toward southern Israel and posed an immediate threat to Israeli civilians,” the IDF stated.

The military went on to slam the terror organization for breaching the ceasefire, noting that loading the launcher was a violation of the US-brokered agreement.

The IDF also asserted that it had employed measures ahead of striking the Hamas target to reduce harm to civilians in the area through the use of “precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.”

Palestinian Hamas terrorists gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on February 20, 2025. (credit: EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)

Some 13,500 rockets fired from Gaza throughout Israel-Hamas War

Prior to the implementation of the ceasefire in October of last year, Hamas's capacity to fire rockets was decimated throughout the course of the war. Still, since the outbreak of the fighting on October 7, 2023, Gazan terrorists fired some 13,500 rockets at Israeli territory, according to the Institute for National Security Studies.

It went on to note that Israeli troops would continue to operate in the area in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and would continue to work to confront additional immediate threats.

IDF strikes terrorist in Lebanon, cites Hezbollah ceasefire violations

Hamas’s violation of the ceasefire was the second ceasefire violation of the day that the IDF said it responded to.

Earlier, the military noted that it had struck a Hezbollah terrorist in the Al-Khiyam area of southern Lebanon.

The IDF stated the strike was a response to “Hezbollah’s continued violations of the ceasefire understandings,” but did not provide any details on the identity of the terrorist or the activities the individual was engaging in at the time of the strike.