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.
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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.
Source: Aljazeera
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