- Israeli airstrikes after a soldier’s death killed at least 104 Palestinians, including many children and women.
- Both U.S. and Israeli leaders insisted the October 10 ceasefire remains in place despite the deadly strikes.
- Tensions highlight the truce’s fragility and lingering hurdles to lasting peace, including Hamas disarmament and border disputes.
CAIRO/JERUSALEM — Just weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump hailed a hard-won ceasefire in Gaza as a cornerstone of his second-term foreign policy, the fragile truce faced its sternest test yet on Wednesday.
Israeli airstrikes, triggered by the killing of an Israeli soldier, claimed the lives of at least 104 Palestinians, including 46 children and 20 women, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Yet in a flurry of statements from both sides of the Atlantic, leaders from Washington to Jerusalem rushed to affirm that the agreement—brokered by Trump and effective since October 10—would hold firm.
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The escalation began late Tuesday when Israeli forces reported that gunmen, whom they blamed on Hamas, attacked troops stationed near the southern Gaza border town of Rafah.
One soldier, identified as Master Sgt. (res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum, was killed in the exchange of fire.
Israel described the incident as occurring within a so-called “yellow line” buffer zone where its troops had withdrawn under the ceasefire terms.
Hamas swiftly denied involvement, accusing Israel of fabricating the attack as a pretext for aggression.
In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered what the Israeli military called “powerful strikes” across Gaza, targeting Hamas militants, weapons depots, tunnels, and a storage site in the north.
The defense forces said the operation eliminated dozens of Hamas commanders, including one linked to the October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel that ignited the two-year conflict.
By Wednesday morning, the Israeli military announced it was resuming full adherence to the truce, vowing to “respond forcefully to any violation” while upholding the broader agreement.
Trump Defends Israel’s Actions in Official Statement
Speaking aboard Air Force One en route from Tokyo to South Korea, Trump defended Israel’s actions without hesitation.
“As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier… So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back,” he told reporters.
He dismissed concerns that the violence could unravel the deal, adding, “Nothing is going to jeopardise the ceasefire… You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”
Trump, who touted the truce and a subsequent hostage-prisoner swap as a major achievement, reiterated a stark warning: If Hamas fails to comply, “they’re going to be terminated.”
Netanyahu echoed the sentiment during a visit to a military facility in southern Israel, where he met with U.S. and Israeli officers coordinating the ceasefire.
“We want to ensure that the goal that President Trump and we agreed on of disarming Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza is ultimately achieved,” he said, framing the strikes as a necessary step toward long-term security.
The Israeli leader’s comments came amid reports that his government had considered preemptive action earlier in the week but held off at Washington’s urging.
For Palestinians in Gaza, the strikes brought back haunting echoes of the war’s early days. In the central Nuseirat refugee camp, an airstrike obliterated the home of the Abu Dalal family, leaving residents to sift through rubble and load bodies onto trucks bound for a nearby cemetery.
“It was like the war never stopped,” said one displaced man, Ismail Zayda, 40, who has been living in a tent in western Gaza City with his family. He described the sound of explosions and low-flying jets as a sudden plunge back into terror, fearing the truce’s collapse could doom any hope of normalcy.
Disappointment and Frustrations Grow Amid Nations
Gaza’s Hamas-run media office decried the bombardment as part of a “systematic campaign of misinformation, forgery, and lies aimed at distorting the truth and covering up its ongoing crimes against civilians.”
The group postponed a scheduled handover of another hostage’s remains, citing Israeli “violations.”
Tensions had already simmered over Hamas’s delivery of partial remains earlier in the week, which Israel identified as belonging to Ofir Tzarfati—a hostage whose body parts were recovered in a prior military operation—rather than one of the 13 still-missing deceased captives.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, a key mediator in the talks, expressed frustration over the flare-up, calling it “very disappointing and frustrating.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer voiced similar alarm, telling parliament he was “deeply concerned” and that the ceasefire represented “the only route to long-term peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Aid groups, including Save the Children, condemned the child casualties as “excruciating,” urging that such violence not become “the new normal under a ceasefire.”
This outburst of violence marks the deadliest day in Gaza since the ceasefire took hold, underscoring the deal’s precarious foundations. The agreement, the third attempt to halt fighting since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks killed some 1,200 people in Israel and sparked a war that has claimed over 68,000 Palestinian lives, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
It emerged from Trump’s 20-point peace framework, announced in late September after indirect negotiations in Egypt and ratified at a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The first phase, kicking off on October 10, saw Hamas release all 20 remaining living Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Israel withdrew troops from much of Gaza, and aid flows increased—though still falling short of the 600 trucks per day mandated to combat famine.
Hamas also handed over remains of 15 deceased hostages, with 13 more pending.
Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and UAE May Step In
Trump’s role has been front and center, with top U.S. officials like Vice President JD Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner shuttling to Israel to align on implementation.
Vance, speaking in Kiryat Gat earlier this month, insisted the truce was “holding,” even allowing for “little skirmishes here and there.”
Yet some Israelis chafe at what they see as Washington’s heavy hand, limiting military options and extracting concessions from Hamas.
A prior mini-escalation on October 19, when two Israeli soldiers died in Rafah, prompted similar strikes but quick de-escalation.
Looking ahead, unresolved hurdles loom large: Hamas’s full disarmament, complete Israeli withdrawals, and Gaza’s postwar governance.
The deal envisions an international force—potentially including troops from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, or the UAE—to patrol the strip, but no commitments have materialized.
Boundary disputes persist, with Israel placing markers up to 520 meters deeper into Gaza than anticipated.
And while Trump declared the war “over” after the initial hostage releases, experts caution that true peace demands sustained diplomacy, not just pauses in fighting.
What Happens Now?
As funerals unfolded Wednesday at Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital and al-Shifa medical complex, where emergency wards overflowed with shrapnel victims, the human cost lingered.
Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, a Palestinian Health Ministry spokesperson, tallied the grim toll: over 104 dead since Tuesday night, many in strikes on residential areas like Zeitoun and Khan Younis.
Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, captured the mood: a city gripped by “panic,” where nowhere feels truly safe.
For now, the ceasefire endures—bolstered by Trump’s unyielding support for Israel and mutual vows of restraint.
But in a region scarred by broken promises, yesterday’s restraint could easily give way to tomorrow’s rupture.
As one Gaza resident put it amid the debris, the blasts serve as a reminder: Peace here is always just one spark away from unraveling.
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