Hamas violates ceasefire, attacks IDF engineering vehicle in Rafah with anti-tank missile

After a little more than a week, the Hamas terror group violated the fragile ceasefire agreement negotiated by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, attacking an IDF engineering vehicle in the area of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. 

Rafah was almost entirely destroyed during the two-year war with Hamas, and remained under IDF control in the ceasefire agreement. 

The ceasefire violation happened on Sunday, when a group of Hamas terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at an engineering vehicle operating in the Rafah area, which is the area designated under Israeli military control. 

In response to the attack, the IAF carried out an airstrike against the terrorists, according to Hebrew media. The IDF called the attack a "blatant ceasefire violation."

BREAKING 🔴

IDF has begun hitting terror positions in Rafah, after Hamas opened fire on IDF troops. Casualties reported on the IDF said. pic.twitter.com/057VlQTjsM

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 19, 2025

"Earlier today, terrorists fired anti-tank missiles and carried out shooting attacks toward IDF forces, which were operating to destroy terror infrastructure in the Rafah area in accordance with the terms of the agreement," the IDF said.

"The IDF began airstrikes with Air Force fighter jets and artillery fire in the Rafah area to neutralize the threat, and destroyed several operational shafts and military structures where terrorist activity was identified."

צה״ל החל לתקוף באיזור רפיח. כך זה נראה מהצד הישראלי pic.twitter.com/85KHK9ePsT

— Itsik Zuarets איציק זוארץ (@Itsik_zuarets) October 19, 2025

"This constitutes a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement, and the IDF will respond with force," the military concluded.

Shortly after the Hamas attack was reported, Israeli politicians called on the government to resume the fighting against Hamas, citing the previous attacks on Friday morning, in the Rafah and Khan Younis areas. 

Right-wing coalition minister, and Jewish Power party leader, Itamar Ben Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resume full scale military operations in Gaza. 

“I call on the prime minister to order the IDF to renew full-scale fighting in the Strip at full strength,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said in a statement. “The false belief that Hamas will change its ways, or will even abide by the agreement it signed, are proving, unsurprisingly, to be dangerous to our security. This Nazi terrorist organization must be destroyed completely and the sooner the better.” 

On Saturday evening, Ben Gvir told Channel 12 that he had given Netanyahu a deadline to dismantle Hamas and implement a death penalty for convicted terrorists, or else his party would leave the coalition government. 

Religious Zionism party leader and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich joined Ben Gvir in calling for a return to fighting. Smotrich posted a one-word comment to social media, saying, “War!” 

Right-wing opposition party leader Avigdor Lieberman, who has often warned against trusting Hamas, also called for action, saying Hamas had “violated the ceasefire.” 

“In the Middle East, there is only one language – power. A true Iron Wall policy. Zero cracks, zero tolerance. Hamas is testing the limits because someone allowed it to. It’s playing games and dragging out the return of the fallen hostages and just recently – it violated the ceasefire and fired at an IDF force in an attempt to harm our heroic soldiers,” Lieberman posted to 𝕏. 

Opposition Democrats party head Yair Golan, tweeted the need for a “decisive response” to Hamas’ violation. 

“Hamas’s attack in Gaza requires a decisive response. Only in this way are the rules of the game set,” he tweeted. 

Meanwhile, Palestinian social media accounts affiliated with Hamas, about an hour following the incident began to claim that the Hamas fighters had attempted to target members of Yasser Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces militia in Rafah. 

One of the accounts posted a message stating, “The current incident stems from an attempt by the resistance [Hamas] to close the case of Yasser Abu Shabab. Its members were surprised by the presence of an Israeli army vehicle in the same location where armed militias had been stationed.” 

The amount claimed that at least one Hamas operative was killed, and several other injured in the incident, which it stated was “not in violation of the ceasefire agreement.” 

“Information indicates that what happened was not a violation of the ceasefire agreement, but rather part of the resistance's efforts to cleanse the Gaza Strip of the criminal militias sheltering under the occupation,” the “Hunter” channel claimed. 

The entire area of Rafah is within the IDF-control zone, according to the ceasefire agreement, meaning that any attempt by Hamas to enter the zone is a violation of the terms of the agreement.