- Hamas accused the Trump administration of a biased stance that encourages continued Israeli aggression in Gaza.
- Israeli airstrikes killed at least 104 Palestinians, prompting Hamas to warn against new realities imposed by violence.
- The U.S.-brokered ceasefire teeters as disputes over returning hostages' bodies and alleged violations escalate toward renewed war.
JERUSALEM/GAZA CITY — Just over two weeks after President Donald Trump hailed a “breakthrough” ceasefire in Gaza as a step toward lasting Middle East peace, the fragile truce is showing deep cracks.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the enclave, issued a sharp warning to the Trump administration on Wednesday, accusing it of a “biased stance” toward Israel that amounts to a “direct encouragement for the continuation of aggression.”
The statement came hours after Israeli airstrikes killed at least 104 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, in what the Israeli military described as retaliation for Hamas’s alleged killing of an Israeli soldier.
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With both sides digging in on accusations of ceasefire violations, the deal—brokered by the U.S., Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey—is teetering, raising fears of a return to all-out war.
Details of the Ongoing Conflict
The latest flare-up stems from a dispute over the return of hostages’ bodies. Under the agreement announced by Trump on October 9, Hamas committed to releasing all remaining living Israeli captives—about 20 at the time—and the remains of 28 deceased ones within 72 hours of the truce taking effect on October 10.
The living hostages were freed by October 13 in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,718 others detained since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people and sparked the war.
But the handover of bodies has dragged on, with Hamas saying it requires digging through rubble and tunnels, a process now aided by Egyptian equipment.
Tensions boiled over on Monday when Hamas delivered what Israel called “body parts” of a previously recovered hostage, which Jerusalem accused the group of “staging” as a fresh discovery to feign compliance.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labeled it a “clear violation” of the deal, and by Tuesday, his office announced orders for the military to launch “forceful strikes” across Gaza.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) followed up overnight into Wednesday with “precise strikes against dozens of Hamas terror targets,” killing militants involved in the 2023 attack, according to the IDF and Israel’s Shin Bet security agency.
Israel also blamed Hamas for gunning down a soldier in southern Gaza within a “yellow line” zone where troops had withdrawn under the truce— a charge Hamas denied.
The Gaza Health Ministry, run by Hamas, reported 104 deaths from the strikes since Tuesday, including 46 children and 20 women, though it doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters.
“Unbelievable horror,” one Palestinian resident told Al Jazeera, describing the scene in Nuseirat where families sifted through debris for loved ones.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz had earlier warned Gaza City residents to “leave now,” saying the destruction was just beginning—a echo of evacuation orders from earlier in the war.
Hamas’s Response Amid Escalating Tensions
Hamas’s response was swift and pointed. In a statement translated from Arabic, the group said: “The American administration’s biased stance toward the occupation constitutes an actual partnership in the shedding of our children’s and women’s blood.”
It added that Israel “bears full responsibility for this dangerous escalation… and its attempt to thwart the Trump plan and the ceasefire agreement.”
The militants vowed not to let Israel impose “new realities through violence,” a phrase underscoring their refusal to be sidelined in Gaza’s future governance.
From the White House, Trump struck a defiant tone while insisting the ceasefire held.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he said: “As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back… Nothing is going to jeopardize the ceasefire. You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”
Last week, Vice President JD Vance, during a visit to Israel, acknowledged the repatriation of deceased hostages “will take time.”
Israel notified the U.S. before Tuesday’s strikes, per Associated Press reporting of U.S. officials.
This isn’t the first wobble in the deal. The ceasefire emerged from Trump’s ambitious 20-point plan unveiled in late September, which demanded Hamas disarm, cede power, and exit Gaza in exchange for a permanent truce, prisoner swaps, and international administration of the territory.
Trump set a “three or four days” deadline for Hamas’s response, warning the group would “pay in hell” if it refused.
Arab states like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, and Egypt welcomed the initiative, piling pressure on Hamas, which analysts said was forced to “choose between the bad and the worst.”
Hamas initially agreed to key elements—like releasing all hostages—but sought revisions, prompting Trump to shift pressure to Israel with calls to halt bombing so releases could proceed safely.
By early October, Trump announced the first phase: ceasefire activation, hostage releases, and aid inflows.
He even addressed Israel’s Knesset on October 13, fresh off the living hostages’ return, touting it as the end of a “3,000-year catastrophe.”
Yet Trump’s rhetoric has hardened over delays; on October 16, he threatened that if Hamas kept “killing people in Gaza, ‘we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,'” later clarifying U.S. forces wouldn’t lead such an effort.
What Will Become of the Truce Deal?
Experts see Hamas as the biggest hurdle to Trump’s vision. “The group must disarm and cannot remain in power,” noted CNN analyst Brett McGurk, pointing to regional shifts like Hezbollah’s defeat in Lebanon and Iran’s setbacks that have isolated the militants.
Gaza political scientist Mkhaimer Abusada, speaking from Cairo, warned that outright rejection would greenlight Israel to “do whatever it takes.”
On the ground, displaced Palestinians continue fleeing north-south along Gaza’s battered roads, a grim reminder of the war’s toll—over 67,000 dead, per Hamas figures.
Both Israel and Hamas have reiterated commitments to the truce amid the chaos.
Netanyahu’s office stressed the strikes enforce the agreement, while Hamas’s exiled leader Khalil al-Hayya spoke last week of implementing a “permanent ceasefire” with Rafah crossing openings and prisoner exchanges.
But with Trump eyeing a Nobel-level legacy and Netanyahu’s coalition eyeing Gaza control, the path forward looks anything but certain.
As one Israeli hostage family member posted online after early releases: “After two years of suffering, I feel closer than ever… to hug my son again.”
For now, that’s a hope many in Gaza and Israel cling to, even as the bombs fall.
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