Netanyahu vows response to Hamas after IDF officer wounded by Gaza IED

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed that Israel would respond to Hamas’ ceasefire violation after an IDF soldier was injured by an IED in the Gaza Strip."

"The Hamas terror organization continues to violate the ceasefire and President Trump’s 20-point plan," Netanyahu stated. “Israel will respond."

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in Jerusalem stressed that the terror organization’s "refusal to disarm constitutes a flagrant violation, and today their violent intentions were confirmed when they detonated an IED that wounded an IDF officer."

"Hamas must be held to the agreement that they signed on which includes removal from governance, demilitarization and de-radicalization," the PMO relayed.

The unnamed IDF officer reportedly sustained light injuries and was evacuated for treatment at an Israeli hospital. The Israeli military confirmed that it had informed the injured officer’s family. 

The American-brokered Gaza ceasefire stipulates that Hamas must disarm and excluded from any future political power in the coastal enclave. 

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who recently visited Israel, called for a deadline for the disarmament of Hamas. 

“Put them on the clock,” Graham said in an interview with The Times of Israel. “If they don’t disarm in a credible way, then unleash Israel on ’em."

The Trump administration is currently seeking to deploy an International Stabilization Force (ISF) to Gaza. However, Graham argued that this international force is not going to succeed with its mission unless “Hamas (has) been disarmed.”

“There’s no international stabilizing force that’s going to come in here and fight,” Graham explained. The few countries that have offered to deploy troops have confirmed that they do not intend to confront Hamas in Gaza and insist on remaining on the Israeli-controlled side of the so called Yellow Line. 

“My advice to the President [Trump] is until Hamas is dealt out of the game militarily and politically, the chance of success is pretty remote,” Graham argued. 

He described Hamas as religious Nazis due to the fundamentalist organization’s genocidal goal of destroying Israel and murdering all Jews. 

“These people are religious zealots. They’re religious Nazis. I have no confidence, short of their demise, that they’re ever going to do anything other than what they promised to do. Did they stop wanting to destroy Israel? Did they change their stated goals? No.”

Hamas has so far refused to disarm. Earlier this month, Khaled Mashal who heads Hamas’ political bureau abroad rejected the calls for an international administration in post-war Gaza. 

“We reject all forms of guardianship over Gaza; the Palestinians are the ones who govern themselves,” Mashal said. The senior Hamas official also rejected disarmament by claiming that Hamas must continue the “resistance” against “Israeli aggression.” 

“Israeli aggression seeks to subjugate the region to its agenda, and this is a real danger,” Mashal claimed, stressing the importance of “protecting the resistance project and its weapons, saving the West Bank from Judaization, settlement expansion, and displacement, and standing with our people.”

Mashal failed to mention that Israel unilaterally left 100% of Gaza in 2005 and it was Hamas that initiated the Gaza war through its invasion and massacre of 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping of 251 people from southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.