‘Israeli’ soldiers near Gaza border report activity “just like October 7”

‘Israeli’ Surveillance soldiers on the Gaza border are reporting renewed armed activity inside the Strip that they say feels “uncomfortably familiar” to the months before the events of October 7, 2023.

According to Channel 12, the mostly female field observers — known in Hebrew as tatzpitaniyot — say they are watching armed individuals operate and place explosives near the Yellow Line, the boundary separating ‘Israeli’-controlled areas from those under Hamas influence.

One soldier stated: “I feel just like on October 6. What’s the difference? That we’re identifying it on the Yellow Line and not on the [border] fence. That’s the difference. We’re really seeing that they know we won’t fire on them. The Gazans aren’t idiots. In the end, they’re constantly testing us and seeing if we react or not. It’s just like before October 7.”

Before the 2023 Hamas-led operation, similar surveillance troops had repeatedly flagged training exercises, digging, and mapping near the border fence.

Many of those warnings went unheeded by higher command, with some survivors later even claiming that sexism played a role in the dismissal of their reports.

The reports come amid a fragile and uneven implementation of a US-backed framework aimed at disarming Hamas and eventually withdrawing ‘Israeli’ forces.

‘Israel’ had paused airstrikes for about a week before resuming them, with higher-level approval now required for many strikes.

‘Israeli’ officers have described a more restrained posture along the Yellow Line, in which even sightings of armed men often require authorization before engagement, while Hamas is said to be entrenching itself in ruins, recovering explosives, and testing response times.

Satellite imagery and field reporting indicate ‘Israel’ has built and expanded dozens of fortified outposts inside Gaza since a late-2025 truce, controlling a large portion of the territory and expanding the buffer zone in places.