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TUNIS, October 28. /TASS/. Hamas has denied its involvement in the shooting incident in Rafah and reiterated its commitment to the Gaza ceasefire agreement. "The Hamas Movement confirms that it has no connection to the opening-fire incident in Rafah and reaffirms its commitment to the ceasefire agreement," it said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel. The group accused the Israeli side of violating the ceasefire and slammed its strikes on Gaza as "a flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement, signed in Sharm El-Sheikh under the patronage of US President Trump." "This terrorist attack is a continuation of the series of violations committed over the past days, including assaults that resulted in martyrs and wounded, and the continued closure of the Rafah crossing," it said. The Al Jazeera television channel reported earlier in the day that Israel had delivered a series of airstrikes on several neighborhoods in Gaza City. According to the TV channel, one of the targets was the Al-Shifa medical center. Another target, according to the Al Mayadeen television channel, was the al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza. Some time later, the Al Araby TV channel reported, citing a representative of the Palestinian enclave's civil defense service, that two people were killed and several others were injured after the Israeli strike on a residential building in the Sabra neighborhood in southern Gaza City. Shortly before that, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered to deliver powerful strikes on the Gaza Strip. According to Israel’s Channel 12 television channel, the prime minister made this decision during a meeting with law enforcement bodies after armed radicals from the Hamas movement violated the ceasefire by delivering strikes on the Israeli military in the Rafah area, in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces attacked several military targets in the enclave. Moreover, Netanyahu’s office reported earlier in the day that Israeli forensic experts had determined that the coffin delivered to Gaza on the evening of October 27 contained part of the remains of a hostage, whose body had already been returned nearly two years ago. Following the discovery, Israel accused the Palestinian movement Hamas of violating agreements on the transfer of the bodies and the Gaza ceasefire. Israel and Hamas resumed Egypt-, Qatar-, United States-, and Turkey-mediated indirect talks on settling the situation in the Gaza Strip on October 6. On October 9, the parties to the conflict signed an agreement on the implementation of phase one of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. The ceasefire came into effect on October 10. On October 13, Hamas and other Palestinian groups released all 20 living hostages and handed over the bodies of four deceased hostages under the Gaza ceasefire deal. The Israeli side expressed resentment that Hamas returned only four out of 28 bodies of deceased hostages. Later, Hamas transferred several more bodies to Israel. According to the Israeli side, radicals continue holding the remains of 13 hostages.
