Copyright yahoo
Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to “immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip” after Israeli troops were hit by gunfire. At least three air strikes, including one near Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa, were reported by the enclave’s civil defence agency after the Israeli prime minister’s order was issued. At least eight people were killed in the strikes, including three in the Sabra neighbourhood and five in a car targeted in Khan Younis, according to Hamas-run authorities. Israel’s attack was sparked by gunfire targeting an IDF unit in the southern Gazan city of Rafah earlier on Tuesday, leaving one soldier in critical condition “Hamas violated the ceasefire once again, carrying out an attack against IDF forces east to the yellow line, an area under Israeli control,” a military official said. “At the end of the security consultations, prime minister Netanyahu instructed the military echelon to immediately carry out powerful attacks on the Gaza Strip,” his office said. But Hamas has denied any involvement in the shooting, saying in response: “Hamas affirms that it has no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah and affirms its commitment to the ceasefire agreement.” The terror group said it would postpone the release of further hostages following the latest air strikes. It is understood that Israel will review the situation after the strikes on Tuesday. The fragile ceasefire hangs in the balance once again. US insists ceasefire holding But JD Vance, the US vice-president, insisted it was still holding strong despite both sides accusing the other of violations. He said: “The ceasefire is holding. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be little skirmishes here and there,” Mr Vance told reporters. “We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked a soldier. We expect the Israelis are going to respond, but I think the president’s peace is going to hold despite that.” Israel will also seek to take further control of Gaza beyond the yellow line, according to a source familiar with the matter. The yellow line marks the boundary where Israeli forces retreated to after signing the first stage of the peace deal. The Telegraph was told that Mr Netanyahu had discussed the expansion of military control with senior US officials in order to co-ordinate the move. Tensions were already high in Israel after it emerged that the remains of a hostage returned by the terror group were found to belong to a captive whose body was recovered from Gaza two years ago. On Monday, Hamas handed over what it said was the 16th of 28 hostage bodies it had agreed to return under the US-brokered ceasefire deal, which came into effect on Oct 10. However, Israeli forensic examination determined that Hamas had handed over partial remains of Ofir Tzarfati. Tzarfati was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023. He was killed in captivity and his body was retrieved by Israeli troops in November 2023. In March 2024, his family received additional remains for burial. The family said in a statement that this was the third time “we have been forced to open Ofir’s grave and rebury our son”. “Since then, we have lived with a wound that constantly reopens, between memory and longing, between bereavement and mission,” it added and described the return of body parts as an “abhorrent manipulation”. Mr Netanyahu and a campaign group representing hostage families accused Hamas of breaching the ceasefire deal. A source close to the negotiations told The Telegraph: “Time is running out and patience is extremely thin.” In the West, there is hope that the strikes will be limited. US negotiators are warning against further military action as Washington tries to prevent another outbreak of war. “The US doesn’t want fighting to resume but there might be a move towards taking further territory or imposing restrictions on aid, which the US is also very much against because that will only harm the population, and not Hamas,” the source added. A previous incident on Oct 19 saw two IDF soldiers killed in Rafah, prompting Israel to retaliate with air strikes across the Strip. That was, however, the end of the hostilities, and the ceasefire was reimposed. Hamas insists it is complying with the ceasefire, but still has 13 dead bodies which it has yet to hand back to Israel as part of the US-brokered deal. This weekend, Egyptian forces sent heavy equipment to help start clearing rubble to locate the bodies, which Hazem Qassem, the Hamas spokesman, said was a challenge because of the scale of destruction in Gaza. “Hamas will continue to exert every effort possible to hand over the remaining bodies until this issue is fully concluded and as soon as possible,” Mr Qassem told Reuters. Right-wing members of Mr Netanyahu’s coalition were putting pressure on the prime minister to take harsh measures. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, posted on X on Tuesday: “The fact that Hamas continues to play games and not immediately hand over all the bodies of our fallen is in itself evidence that the terrorist organisation is still standing on its feet. The time has come to break those legs once and for all. “Now we do not need to ‘exact a price from Hamas’ for the violations. We need to take from it its very existence and destroy it completely – in accordance with the central goal defined for the war of resurgence. Mr Prime Minister, enough hesitation – give the order!” On Saturday, Donald Trump, the US president, said he would be “very closely” watching Hamas’s return of hostage bodies over the next 48 hours but as the deadline came to an end, the bodies remained in Gaza. Under the latest round of the ceasefire, Hamas released all of the 20 remaining living hostages of the 251 taken on Oct 7, in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners while Israel pulled back its troops and halted its offensive. Israel claims to know the whereabouts of nine of the 13 remaining dead bodies and accuses Hamas of deliberately stalling the process. Hamas has said it is unwilling to give up arms, a key part of the ceasefire deal. Since the war in Gaza began, the Hamas-run health authorities say 68,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory attacks, with thousands more believed to be missing. Israel says over 20,000 of those are Hamas militants. More than 1,200 people were killed in Israel on Oct 7 and since the war, over 1,100 security forces have been killed in the fighting.
