Israel resumes Gaza strikes, accusing Hamas of ceasefire violations
Nearly three weeks after a ceasefire began in the Gaza war, the Israeli Air Force renewed attacks on the Gaza Strip after the Israeli government accused Hamas of attacking Israeli troops and violating the ceasefire agreement.
Shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to carry out immediate “powerful” strikes, Palestinian eyewitnesses on Tuesday said the Israeli Air Force was hitting targets around Gaza City.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that several Palestinians had been killed and wounded in the Tuesday evening attacks in and around Gaza City.
In the south, at least five people were killed in another airstrike, according to the Hamas-controlled civil defence.
A spokesman said that children were among them. A vehicle was targeted in the town of Khan Younis in the south of the coastal strip, he said. An Israeli military spokesman said the report was being investigated.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Hamas that it would pay a “heavy price” for attacking Israeli soldiers in Gaza and violating an agreement on the return of deceased hostages, his office said.
Katz said Tuesday’s attack by militants in southern Gaza had crossed a “glaring red line” and that the Israeli military would respond with “great force.”
“Hamas will pay many times over for attacking the soldiers and for violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages,” he added.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Palestinians had attacked soldiers in Rafah earlier on Tuesday, including with a rocket-propelled grenade, and that a sniper was also involved in the assault.
Hamas delays body handover after new attacks
The Palestinian Islamist militia announced it would postpone the transfer of another hostage’s remains, which had been scheduled for Tuesday evening, following the renewed Israeli attacks.
The al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, said on Telegram the delay was a response to “violations by the occupation (Israel).”
A body had previously been found during search operations in a tunnel in the south of the Gaza Strip, it said, but new Israeli attacks were hindering the searches and the handover.
Anger over slow hostage remains return
The Israeli government is angered over what they have called deliberate stalling tactics from Hamas in handing over 28 bodies of hostages, of which 13 must still be returned.
Hamas says it is difficult to find the dead because they are buried under the rubble of bombed buildings and tunnels.
On Monday evening, Hamas again handed over human remains, but forensic examinations in Israel revealed that they belonged to an Israeli whose body the army had already brought back to Israel in autumn 2023.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army released a video that it says shows Hamas members removing a body from a building, burying it in the ground and then calling in representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the “recovery” of the body. Red Cross staff has to date dealt with the handover of the mortal remains of hostages.
This triggered great anger and outrage in Israel, and was the reason for Netanyahu’s security consultations on the next steps.
Repeated ceasefire violations
Since October 10, Hamas and Israel have accused each other of repeated ceasefire violations. More than 90 Palestinians have already been killed since the latest ceasefire, according to the Hamas-run health authority.
The trigger for the Gaza war was the massacre by Hamas and other terrorists in Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 abducted.
In subsequent massive Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, more than 68,500 people were killed, according to the Hamas-run health authority.
