The shaky ceasefire in Gaza faced a fresh test on Tuesday as Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli army to immediately carry out “powerful strikes” in the war-torn enclave. The announcement came soon after Tel Aviv accused Hamas of opening fire as Israeli forces in southern Gaza. Tensions have been running high this week after Hamas returned remains that Israel claimed belonged to the body of an Israeli hostage recovered earlier in the war.
According to an Associated Press report, Israel had notified the United States before launching strikes on Tuesday night. US Vice President JD Vance later said that the ceasefire continued to hold despite “little skirmishes here and there”.
Netanyahu had earlier insisted that the return of these body parts was a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement — but did not give any specific reason for the latest attack. The announcement came soon after an Israeli military official said Hamas had violated the ceasefire by carrying out an attack against the IDF in an area of the enclave that is under Israeli control. Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Hamas would pay a “heavy price for attacking Israeli soldiers in Gaza and for violating the agreement on returning the deceased hostages.”
‘Hamas lying about hostage’ claims Israel
Tel Aviv also accused the militant group of “lying” about their hostages — sharing a video on social media to underscore their claims.
“Hamas terrorists were filmed removing body remains from a prepared structure and re-burying them nearby, before summoning Red Cross representatives to stage a false ‘discovery’ for photographers. Despite claiming difficulty locating the bodies of deceased hostages, Hamas continues to hold and manipulate the remains it refuses to release under the agreement. Hamas’ claims of lacking engineering equipment are baseless, such tools are unnecessary for the transfer of remains and do not prevent the return of the deceased hostages,” the IDF alleged.
In a statement, Hamas denied involvement in the gunfire in Rafah and reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire.
“The violent strikes carried out by Israel across the Strip is a blatant violation of the ceasefire deal,” said the group, calling on mediators to pressure Israel to stop.
