Israel Serang Gaza After Accusing Hamas Of Violating Ceasefire

Israeli F-35 fighter jets. (Wikimedia Commons/Deror Avi)

JAKARTA - Israeli planes launched an attack on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, after accusing the Hamas militant group of violating the ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

Local health authorities said the attack killed at least 26 people, including five people in a house that was hit by an attack on a Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, four people in a building in the Sabra neighborhood, Gaza City, and five people in a car in Khan Younis.

In Gaza City, an Israeli attack that killed four people hit a residential building near Shifa Hospital, the largest operational hospital in northern Gaza.

The hospital itself was also hit by an attack, according to Gaza officials, eyewitnesses and Hamas media.

Two people were injured in an attack on a tent in Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip, according to local health authorities.

Attacks by Israeli planes continued into the early hours of Wednesday across the Gaza Strip, according to eyewitnesses.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack, following a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office saying he had ordered a "catastrophic attack" immediately.

The statement gave no specific reason for the attack, but an Israeli military official said Hamas had violated the ceasefire by launching an attack on Israeli troops in the enclave under Israeli control.

"This is a real violation of the ceasefire," the official said.

Tuesday's attack on Gaza City follows what Israel calls a "directed attack" on Saturday against a person in central Gaza who is said to be planning to attack Israeli forces.

PM Netanyahu previously said on Tuesday Hamas had violated the ceasefire by handing over some parts of the incorrect body in the process of returning the hostages' bodies to Israel.

He said the body handed over on Monday was Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli citizen who was killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Tzarfati's body had been partially retrieved by Israeli forces during the war.

Hamas initially said in response to this, they would hand it over to Israel on Tuesday the body of a missing hostage found in a tunnel in Gaza.

However, Hamas' armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigade, later said it would delay the handover plan, citing violations of the ceasefire by Israel.

Late Tuesday, Al-Qassam issued a statement stating that he had found the bodies of two Israeli hostages, Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch, during a search operation in Gaza.

Hamas said Netanyahu was looking for excuses to deny Israel's obligations.

The United States-backed ceasefire agreement came into force on October 10, halting a two-year war sparked by a deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The two sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hamas released all the surviving hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and prisoners of war, while Israel withdrew its troops and stopped its attacks.

Hamas has also agreed to hand over the bodies of all the hostages who have not been found, but said it will take time to find and retrieve the bodies in the midst of Gaza's ruins.

Israel says the militant group can access the bodies of most hostages.

This issue has become one of the most important points in the ceasefire, which US President Donald Trump said he was monitoring thoroughly. He has touted the ceasefire and the exchange deal for hostages as one of the main foreign policy achievements of his second term of office, and he and his main aides have tried to keep the ceasefire intact.

In Washington, US Vice President JD Vance, who was part of a group of President Trump's government officials visiting Israel last week, said despite the latest turmoil, "the ceasefire remains in effect."

"That doesn't mean there won't be small fighting here and there," he told reporters on Capitol Hill.

"We know Hamas or other parties in Gaza are attacking a soldier (Israel). We expect Israel to retaliate, but I think the president's peace will be maintained though it is," he said.

The search for the hostages' bodies has increased over the past few days after the arrival of heavy equipment from Egypt. Buldosers worked at Khan Younis on Tuesday, in the southern Gaza Strip, and further north in Nuseirat, while Hamas fighters were deployed around them.

Some of the bodies are believed to be in the Hamas tunnel network that stretches under Gaza.

Witnesses in Khan Younis said the Egyptian team, in collaboration with armed Hamas fighters, were digging deep near Qatar-funded Hamad Housing on the west side of Khan Younis, reaching the tunnel.