Israeli strikes kill 60 in Gaza after Hamas allegedly violated ceasefire

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday (local time), killing at least 60 people, including many children and wounding dozens following an alleged violation of the US-brokered ceasefire by Hamas, Associated Press reported.

 

The development came after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Israeli military to "immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip," according to a statement from his office.

 

Mahmud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence, told AFP that the emergency crews were "still working to recover the dead and wounded from under the rubble."

 

The Israeli military said that the operation was in response to Hamas attacking its troops in Rafah, a claim denied by the militant group. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Hamas of crossing a "bright red line", warning, "Hamas' attack today on IDF soldiers in Gaza will be met with great force."

 

US' response to Gaza strikes

 

US Vice President JD Vance maintained that the ceasefire is "holding" despite what he called "little skirmishes". Speaking to reporters, Vance said, "We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an IDF soldier. We expect the Israelis to respond, but I think the president's peace is going to hold."

 

US President Donald Trump doubled down on the ceasefire and said that nothing will jeopardise the truce in place. However, he added that Israel had a right to respond to the alleged violations, and warned the militant group of "termination".

 

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said, "If Hamas does not behave, they will be terminated".

 

Dispute over hostage remains

 

The ceasefire deal, which came into effect on October 10, required Hamas to return all the hostages, including 28 sets of hostage remains. On Monday, Hamas turned over what it claimed were the remains of a 16th hostage. However, Israeli forensic experts later confirmed that the remains were those of a hostage whose body had already been returned two years earlier.

 

Following this dispute, Netanyahu said that he was considering next steps after the militant group misidentified the remains of a hostage. The Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian accused Hamas of fabricating the discovery.

 

The militant group, on the other hand, rejected the accusation, adding that the group is trying to locate the remaining bodies amid the destruction caused by Israel's two-year offensive. Hamas' spokesperson Hazem Qassem said, "The movement is determined to hand over the bodies of the Israeli captives as soon as possible once they are located."

 

According to Gaza's Health Ministry, over 68,500 Palestinians have died in the two-year-long war.