Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Tuesday he has ordered the military to instantly perform “highly effective strikes” in Gaza, and Hamas responded by saying it might delay handing over the physique of a hostage, placing new strain on the tenuous U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
The order from Netanyahu follows heightened tensions, as Israel reported Hamas firing on its forces in southern Gaza and after Hamas returned a set of stays that Israel mentioned belonged to a hostage recovered earlier within the battle.
Netanyahu known as the return a “clear violation” of the ceasefire settlement, which requires Hamas to return all Israeli hostage stays as quickly as potential.
In one other signal of the fragility of the ceasefire, Israeli troops had been shot at within the southern metropolis of Rafah on Tuesday and returned hearth, based on an Israeli army official who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of there hasn’t been an official announcement but.
The ceasefire that started on Oct. 10 has largely held regardless of no less than two earlier flareups in violence.
On Oct. 19, Israel mentioned two Israeli troopers had been killed by Hamas hearth. Israel responded with a collection of strikes that killed over 40 Palestinians, based on native well being officers. And over the weekend, Israel carried out an airstrike in opposition to what it mentioned had been Islamic Jihad militants planning an assault, wounding a number of folks.
There are nonetheless 13 our bodies of hostages in Gaza. Hamas mentioned Tuesday it had recovered the physique of a hostage, however after Israeli introduced the plans to strike Gaza, Hamas mentioned it in an announcement it might delay the handover.
An Related Press videographer in Khan Younis witnessed what seemed to be a white physique bag being carried out from a tunnel by a number of males, together with some masked militants, after which transported into an ambulance. It was not instantly clear what was within the bag.
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The gradual return of hostages’ our bodies is posing a problem to implementing the subsequent levels of the ceasefire, which is able to handle even knottier points, such because the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of a world safety power in Gaza and deciding who will govern the territory.
Hamas has mentioned it’s struggling to find the our bodies amid the huge destruction in Gaza, whereas Israel has accused the militant group of purposely delaying their return. Over the weekend, Egypt deployed a group of consultants and heavy gear to assist seek for the our bodies of the remaining hostages. That work continued Tuesday in Khan Younis and Nuseirat.
That is the second time for the reason that ceasefire started on Oct. 10 that continues to be turned over by Hamas have been problematic. Israel mentioned one of many our bodies Hamas launched within the first week of the ceasefire belonged to an unidentified Palestinian.
Throughout a earlier ceasefire in February 2025, Hamas mentioned it handed over the our bodies of three hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two sons, however testing confirmed that one of many our bodies returned was recognized as a Palestinian girl. Shiri Bibas’ physique was returned a day later.
The stays returned in a single day have been recognized as belonging to Ofir Tzarfati, Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned.
Tzarfati was kidnapped from the Nova music competition within the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel that began the battle. In all, the militants killed some 1,200 those that day, largely civilians, and took 251 hostages.
Tzarfati was killed in captivity and his physique was retrieved by Israeli troops in November 2023. In March 2024, his household acquired extra stays for burial.
Tzarfati’s household mentioned in an announcement that that is the third time “we have now been pressured to open Ofir’s grave and rebury our son.”
In trade for 15 useless hostages returned from Gaza for the reason that ceasefire started, Israel has handed again to Gaza 195 Palestinian our bodies. The final 20 dwelling hostages had been returned to Israel at the beginning of the ceasefire, and in trade, Israel freed roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel kills 3 Palestinians in a West Financial institution raid
Earlier Tuesday, Israeli authorities mentioned they’d killed three Palestinian militants early throughout an operation within the northern a part of the occupied West Financial institution, the most recent motion in Israel’s stepped-up army exercise within the territory for the reason that Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas assault.
Israeli police mentioned the three males had been shot as they got here out of a cave close to Jenin, a city within the northern West Financial institution generally known as a militant stronghold. The Israeli army mentioned in an announcement that the militants “took half in terror exercise in Jenin,” however gave no additional particulars.
Two militants had been shot and killed within the preliminary volley of gunfire. The third, who was wounded, was killed shortly after, based on the Israeli army.
An earlier assertion mentioned the Israeli army carried out an airstrike shortly afterward to destroy the cave. The military confirmed an airstrike within the space however gave no additional particulars.
Hamas condemned the Jenin strike and later recognized two of the three males as militants with Hamas’ Qassam Brigades. The third man was known as a “comrade,” however no extra particulars about him got.
Israel says its operations have cracked down on militants within the West Financial institution. However Palestinians and human rights teams say scores of uninvolved civilians have additionally been among the many useless, whereas tens of hundreds of individuals have been displaced from their properties.
Over 68,500 Palestinians have died within the two-year battle in Gaza, based on Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its depend. The ministry maintains detailed casualty data which might be seen as typically dependable by U.N. companies and unbiased consultants. Israel has disputed them with out offering its personal toll.
Related Press writers Josef Federman and Renata Brito in Jerusalem and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.
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