Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on Gaza early Tuesday, hours after accusing Hamas of breaching a US-brokered ceasefire- the most recent challenge to a fragile truce mediated by US President Donald Trump earlier this month.
According to Gaza’s health officials, at least 26 people were killed in the overnight bombardment. Among the dead were five members of a family in a house at the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, four others in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood, and five in a vehicle in Khan Younis.
Witnesses said Israeli air raids continued into the early hours of Wednesday across various parts of the enclave.
The Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement regarding the fresh strikes. However, the attacks followed an announcement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that he had ordered “powerful attacks.” While the statement did not specify a cause, an Israeli military official claimed Hamas had violated the ceasefire by carrying out an assault against Israeli forces in an area under Israeli control.
The official said, “This is yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire.”
The US-mediated truce, which took effect on 10 October, ended two years of hostilities that began after the Hamas-led assault on Israel on 7 October, 2023. Since then, both Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of breaching the ceasefire.
US Vice President JD Vance, who was among several Trump administration officials to visit Israel last week, said despite the renewed tensions, “the ceasefire is holding.”
He told reporters on Capitol Hill, “That doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be little skirmishes here and there. We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an (Israeli) soldier. We expect the Israelis are going to respond, but I think the president’s peace is going to hold despite that.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli media reported a firefight between Hamas militants and Israeli troops in Rafah, southern Gaza. The Israeli military did not respond to media inquiries about the reports.
Hamas, for its part, denied involvement in any attack on Israeli soldiers in Rafah and said in a statement it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement.
The latest bombardment on Gaza City came just days after what Israel described as a “targeted strike” on Saturday, aimed at an individual in central Gaza allegedly plotting an attack on Israeli forces.
