(Update: deaths, Hamas denial)
TEL AVIV/GAZA (dpa-AFX) – Almost three weeks after the start of a ceasefire in the Gaza war, the situation in the largely destroyed coastal strip has escalated again. According to media reports, the Israeli Air Force fired on targets in the area of the city of Gaza and other places. According to the Hamas-controlled Civil Defense, five people, including children, were killed when a vehicle was shelled in Khan Yunis. An Israeli army spokesman said they were reviewing the report.
According to Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israel responded with the new shelling to an attack by the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas on Israeli soldiers and to delays in the agreed handover of dead hostages. Hamas said it was not responsible for the attack on the soldiers. The information could not be independently verified.
Attack with bazooka and sniper
The Israeli TV station N12 reported that armed Palestinians attacked soldiers in Rafah, including with a rocket-propelled grenade. A sniper was also involved in the attack. According to Palestinian eyewitnesses, there was then artillery shelling of several areas in the Rafah area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to immediately carry out “intense attacks” in the Gaza Strip after security consultations.
According to media reports, Israel could also expand the area it still controls in the coastal strip. The so-called “yellow line,” behind which the Israeli army withdrew as part of the agreed ceasefire, would be moved further west.
Defense Minister Katz threatened that Hamas would pay a “heavy price for attacking Israeli soldiers in Gaza and for violating the agreement on the return of the dead hostages.” With the attack, Hamas crossed a “red line.”
More than 90 Palestinians have already been killed despite the ceasefire
There have been repeated deadly incidents since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on October 10 as part of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 90 Palestinians have already been killed. Just over a week ago, two Israeli soldiers were killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.
Hamas postpones handover of another body
In view of the new escalation, Hamas wants to postpone the handover of another dead hostage, which was initially announced for Tuesday evening. Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, said on Telegram that it was a response to “violations by the occupation (Israel).” A body was previously found during searches in a tunnel in the south of the Gaza Strip. New attacks by Israel would hinder search work and the return.
Israel accuses Hamas of delaying tactics
Israel accuses Hamas of deliberately delaying the handover of a total of 28 bodies of hostages as part of the US peace plan. According to the agreement, Hamas should have handed over all the bodies more than two weeks ago. However, the terrorist organization has not forwarded 13 bodies so far. She cites difficulties in search and rescue given the massive destruction in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas is said to have staged the recovery of the body
The Israeli army released a video purporting to show Hamas members removing a body from a building, burying it in the ground, and then summoning representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the “recovery.”
To date, the remains of hostages have always been handed over by Red Cross employees. On Monday evening, Hamas handed over the remains again. However, forensic investigations in Israel revealed that these belonged to an Israeli whose body the army had already brought to Israel in autumn 2023. This sparked great anger and indignation in Israel – it was the reason for Netanyahu’s security consultations to discuss how to proceed.
The Gaza war was triggered by the massacre by Hamas and other terrorists in Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were kidnapped. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 68,500 people were killed in massive Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip./edr/DP/he