Israel Says It Seized Hamas's Internal Security Chief in a Gaza Raid That Palestinian Officials Say Killed Four

Israeli forces carried out a raid in Gaza that Palestinian officials say killed four people, The New York Times reported. Israel said the operation captured the head of Hamas's internal security force. Fighting has continued in the territory despite a truce backed by the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the target headed Hamas's internal security apparatus in Gaza and had been involved with Israeli hostages previously held there, The Hindu reported, without providing further detail. Hamas has not confirmed the capture. The accounts of the raid's casualties come from Palestinian officials and have not been independently verified.

Israel's northern frontier registered activity on the same night. Ynet reported in Hebrew that sirens sounded in several communities in the Galilee panhandle for the first time in more than three months, that the Israeli military said interceptors were launched at a suspected aerial target and that the results were under review, and that no injuries were reported. Authorities were examining whether a drone had crossed from Lebanon.

A truce that permits raids, captures and interceptions is a suspension of large-scale operations rather than an end to the conflict. For anyone pricing regional risk, the distinction matters, because the arrangement now overlaps with an active exchange of strikes between the United States and Iran, and each front raises the probability that an incident on one spreads to the other.