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NEW YORK, November 6. /TASS/. Hundreds of Hamas militants remain trapped underground in tunnels in the Israeli-controlled sector of the Gaza Strip, and they may pose a threat to the ceasefire if they attack the Jewish state’s positions, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing Arab officials. The fate of the besieged Hamas fighters has been a sticking point in negotiations on transitioning to the next stage of the ceasefire, the newspaper wrote. While the radical Palestinian movement wants to evacuate them into Hamas-controlled territory of Palestine, the Israeli side wants them to surrender or to kill them. Meanwhile, Hamas has said, it has found a way to communicate with the fighters after it lost the ability to do so in March. However, Israel believes that Hamas has been able to communicate with its trapped fighters and that Hamas leaders might have ordered the men to stand down. While Hamas puts the number of its trapped fighters at around 100, estimates from Israeli and Arab officials show that there are between 200 to 300 militants underground. Most of them are struck in Rafah, the newspaper continued, and some are also in the northern and central Gaza. According to the WSJ, earlier, Hamas officials warned mediators that their fighters might prefer to engage with the Israeli army than surrender or die of hunger. Now, the Israeli military is seeking to capture Hamas militants rather than kill them as the Jewish state fears that the Palestinian radicals could halt the process of handing over the bodies of Israeli hostages. On October 9, Israel and Hamas signed an agreement, brokered by Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Turkey, to implement the first phase of a peace plan floated by US President Donald Trump. The Gaza ceasefire came into force on October 10. On the evening of October 28, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered powerful strikes on the Gaza Strip after armed supporters of the Hamas movement allegedly violated the ceasefire by delivering strikes on the Israeli military near Rafah in the southern enclave. Hamas denied its involvement in the Rafah incident. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 104 people were killed in Israeli strikes and 253 others sustained injuries.
