Category World News

As the fragile United States-brokered ceasefire intended to end the two-year war is in danger, Israel’s military has launched a string of airstrikes on southern Gaza.

Just hours after striking the city of Rafah, the Israeli army claimed its troops had been attacked by Hamas fighters in the area with a “massive and extensive wave” of strikes on dozens of targets.

After the alleged Hamas ceasefire violation, an Israeli security official also informed media that humanitarian aid would be “until further notice” being sent to Gaza.

At least 21 Palestinians have been killed since the morning due to a number of Israeli air raids, according to the Civil Defense Agency in Gaza.

Two of its soldiers were killed in “combat” in Gaza on Sunday, according to the Israeli army, and Hamas targeted its troops with strikes and artillery fire. Hamas’s armed wing, however, claimed to be sticking to the ceasefire.

Since these are red zones under the control of the occupation, contact with the rest of our members there has been thwarted since the conflict started in March of this year, according to the Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, in a statement released on Sunday.

Hani Mahmoud, a journalist from Gaza City, reported on the report that Palestinians are “very concerned” about the sudden escalation.

As Israel’s military launched more than 20 airstrikes in Gaza, fear and panic are roiling the country’s residents. People have contacted us asking if the war is returning, according to Mahmoud, including women and children.

Some people said, “Now that Israel has the captives back, they’re going to kill us.” We’re hearing that kind of sentiment right now.

According to medical sources at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital, an Israeli attack on az-Zawayda in central Gaza resulted in five Palestinian deaths and injuries for an unnamed number of people.

According to a medical source at al-Awda Hospital, three Palestinians were killed and several others were hurt in an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp, and at least two others were killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, according to the Wafa news agency.

In Israel, “Mood changed.”

Israel’s strikes came after security officials and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting to call for “strong action” from the military in response to any ceasefire violations.

Nour Odeh, a journalist from Amman, Jordan, reported on reports from Israeli media outlets that Israel had been acting in Rafah to protect armed proxies in Gaza that it had supported throughout the conflict because it believed they were facing reprisals from Hamas since the ceasefire.

She claimed that there were rumors Hamas fighters were attempting to attack that militia in Rafah.

Odeh claimed that the state of the conflict in Rafah “almost immediately” changed once it became known.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, stated on X that he wanted the Israeli army to “fully resume combat in the Gaza Strip with maximum force.” Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, wrote: “War!” And Hamas will continue to exist, according to Amichai Chikli, the outspoken minister of diaspora affairs.

Benny Gantz, the leader of the opposition and former member of Israel’s security council, said that Israel should have all options open while “resuming military operations.”

Analyst Yossi Mekelberg told Al Jazeera that the strikes demonstrated how fragile the ceasefire is.

According to Mekelberg, senior consulting fellow with Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, “we said all along that this ceasefire is not the end of what we have witnessed over the past two years.” It can tilt in any direction because it is a very fragile ceasefire.

US claim is refuted by Hamas.

The US State Department claimed earlier that Hamas would “credible reports” that Israel would immediately violate the ceasefire agreement, which Hamas refuted.

The department stated in a statement on Saturday that “this planned attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement and undermine the significant progress made through mediation efforts.”

Hamas responded by saying that the Israeli-led occupation’s claims were false, “fully aligned with the deceptive Israeli propaganda, and provide cover for the continuation of the occupation’s crimes and organized aggression” against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Hamas claimed that Israel supports armed militias operating in areas under Israeli control.

Additionally, the group demanded that Washington “provide them a safe haven” by urging Israel to stop supporting the gangs.

Remains of the captives who were released have been identified.

Israel’s overnight release of two captives by Hamas was the catalyst for the strikes in southern Gaza, and the Palestinian organization claimed that negotiations to begin the second phase of ceasefire negotiations have already begun.

The negotiations will include the establishment of an internationally supported authority to govern the Gaza Strip, according to a ceasefire plan that US President Donald Trump brokered.

Ronen Engel, a father of three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker who was killed at Kibbutz Be’eri, were the owners of the bodies, according to Netanyahu’s office.

Israel has so far returned the bodies of 12 of the 28 captives’ bodies to Gaza, putting pressure on Hamas to do so even more.

Hamas claims to be committed to the ceasefire’s terms, including the transfer of the remaining captive remains, but it requires assistance as well as powerful machinery to find and retrieve bodies trapped beneath the rubble following Israeli bombings that have decimated Gaza.

I had a variety of conflicting emotions when the Gaza ceasefire was declared. I was relieved that the bombs had finally stopped, but I also feared that they could go back on at any time. I was worried that this might return to normal life, but I also worried that it might be a temporary one.

As a teacher of English, I want to see education as quickly as possible. The only way to revive hope and assist children in overcoming the trauma of two years of genocide is through education. It can give the impression of purpose and normalcy. That is why Gaza should have the highest priority.

I taught English to elementary and middle school students in Gaza City before the genocide started. In the first weeks of the war, the school was completely destroyed, and the educational facility suffered severe damage.

We had to leave our home, along with my family. I began teaching in a tent a few months later as part of a volunteer-run initiative at the local school. My students, who ranged in age from six to twelve, were seated on the floor in the tent without desks. Although the teaching environment was challenging, I made a commitment to supporting children in their education.

By the late December of that year, all pens, books, and notebooks had completely vanished from stores and markets. If there was any money available, a single notebook would cost anywhere between 20 and 30 shekels ($6 to $9). The majority of families were unable to afford this.

Some of my pupils started arriving at class without anything to write on, others would pick up scraps of paper from the rubble of homes and proceed with it, and others would continue to write in pennies on the backs of their families’ preserved old sheets of paper. Many children would frequently have to share a single pen because pens were so scarce.

We educators had to find alternative teaching methods because writing and reading, the foundation of education, became so challenging. We performed songs, heard stories, and group recitations.

Children had an incredible desire to continue learning despite the lack of resources. I was moved by their determination to learn despite everything, and I was moved by their perseverance as I saw them struggle with old scraps of paper.

Years ago, my grandmother gave me a special notebook that I used as a diary. My dreams and secrets were included in it. After the war, I began to read accounts of bombings, homeless people sleeping in the streets, starvation never before, and suffering without even the most basic necessities.

I was aware of what I had to do on a particular August school day when the majority of my students showed up without a single paper. I gave my students the pages of my notebook as I began tearing them out one by one.

My notebook’s pages ran out in a single day due to the number of children in it. Then, my students had to return the paper or cardboard scraps.

My students are still without paper and pens despite the truce putting an end to the bombs. Humanitarian aid has once more begun entering Gaza. Shelter supplies, food, and supplies are arriving. All of these are crucial. However, we also urgently require funding for the 600,000 schoolchildren in Gaza to get back on track.

Not just textbooks, pens, and paper are available. They provide a lifeline to Gaza’s children who have overcome war, destruction, and great loss. They are essential tools for their willpower and perseverance to live, learn, and envision a bright future.

With the aid of education, children can recover from war trauma and regain sense of security. For both community healing and psychological rehabilitation, learning provides them with the structure, self-assurance, and hope for a brighter future.

We must re-advocate for those who lost two years of education with the ability to write, study, and dream.