The Israel Defense Forces was preparing for the possibility that Hamas will return the body of a hostage on Monday evening, the Times of Israel has learned.

Hamas is still holding the bodies of 16 hostages.

On Sunday, Hamas said it had located the body of a captive and would return it to Israel “if the field conditions are suitable.”

That announcement came after a deadly attack on troops in the southern Gaza Strip in the morning, and a subsequent wave of retaliatory Israeli strikes had threatened to shatter the fragile truce.

In accordance with the ceasefire deal, Hamas released the last 20 living hostages last Monday, within 72 hours of Israel’s withdrawal to the Yellow Line. Hamas has also returned the remains of 12 slain hostages during the ceasefire.

The remaining deceased hostages include a soldier killed fighting in the 2014 Gaza war — the last remaining hostage from before the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.

While the truce appeared to largely hold on Monday morning, soldiers opened fire on Palestinian terror operatives who crossed the ceasefire line and posed an “imminent threat” to troops in eastern Gaza City, the IDF said.

Palestinian media reported two people were killed in the area of the Shejaiya neighborhood, where the IDF said troops opened fire in two successive incidents.

In both incidents, according to the IDF, terror operatives who crossed the Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew on October 10 under the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire — “posed an imminent threat” to troops, who opened fire to “remove the threat.”

In another incident, an Israeli Air Force fighter jet struck and killed several terror operatives who approached Israeli forces in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF said.

According to the military, the operatives had been identified crossing the Yellow Line, and they approached troops “in a way that posed an imminent threat.”

The ground troops, upon identifying the operatives, directed an IAF fighter jet to strike them, the military added.

Also Monday, Israel warned Hamas operatives who are holed up on the eastern side of the Yellow Line — the 53% of the Gaza Strip still under Israeli control — to evacuate immediately or be targeted.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the IDF to convey the warning to Hamas via the US-led international ceasefire monitoring mechanism.

“Any Hamas operative found beyond the Yellow Line in territory under Israeli control must evacuate immediately. The leaders of Hamas will bear responsibility for any incident,” he said in a statement. “Anyone who remains in the area will be targeted without any further warning, to allow IDF troops to operate freely and immediately against any threat.”

“Protection of IDF soldiers is the top priority and we will take all necessary steps to ensure this,” said Katz.

The warning came a day after gunmen emerged from a tunnel deep within Israeli-held territory in southern Gaza’s Rafah and launched RPGs at troops, killing two soldiers,  Maj. Yaniv Kula, 26, and Staff Sgt. Itay Yavetz, 21. Another three troops were wounded by sniper fire in the same area.

In response, the military carried out strikes against 20 targets in Gaza, which the Hamas-run civil defense agency said killed 45 people. The death toll could not be verified and did not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

While the Israeli military directly blamed Hamas for the attack on the troops in Rafah, the terror group denied responsibility, claiming “communication has been cut off” with operatives in Israeli-controlled areas.

Meanwhile, work continued to physically demarcate the Yellow Line. Footage released Monday morning showed concrete blocks painted yellow being moved by IDF heavy machinery. Yellow metal signs will also be attached to the blocks.

Katz had ordered on Friday that physical markers be set up along the Yellow Line so as a warning to “Hamas terrorists and Gaza residents that any violation or attempt to cross the line will be met with fire.”

The IDF has over the past week killed several Palestinians who the military said had crossed the Yellow Line and posed a threat to troops.

The IDF is continuing to demarcate the Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in the Gaza Strip with physical markers.

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 20, 2025

Those incidents have led Hamas to accuse Israel of violating the ceasefire, already tested by Israel’s accusation that the terror group was withholding the bodies of hostages it has access to, in violation of the agreement.