- Netanyahu ordered powerful Israeli strikes across Gaza after accusing Hamas of violating the U.S.-brokered ceasefire over disputed hostage remains.
- Airstrikes killed and injured civilians in Gaza City and Khan Younis, raising fears the fragile October 10 truce could collapse.
- U.S. mediators urged restraint; international involvement and Trump’s wider ceasefire plan now face heightened uncertainty.
JERUSALEM — Just weeks after a hard-fought U.S.-brokered ceasefire brought a tentative halt to two years of devastating war in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plunged the fragile truce back into crisis on Tuesday by ordering the military to launch “powerful strikes” across the territory.
The decision, announced in a terse statement from his office, came amid mutual accusations of violations, including a disputed handover of hostage remains and reports of gunfire in southern Gaza.
With explosions lighting up the night sky over Gaza City and Khan Younis, the move has raised fears that the hard-won pause in hostilities could unravel entirely, dashing hopes for a permanent end to the conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
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Netanyahu’s office framed the strikes as a direct response to what it described as Hamas’ “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement, which took effect on October 10 following intense diplomatic maneuvering by the Trump administration.
“Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu has directed the military to immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read, emphasizing that the order was made in coordination with top security officials.
The prime minister had earlier accused Hamas of staging the “discovery” of a deceased hostage’s remains, claiming the group returned body parts belonging to someone whose body Israeli forces had already recovered two years prior.
Israeli military drone footage, released to back the claim, appeared to show militants burying a bag of remains for the International Committee of the Red Cross to “find” them later.
Who Delivered the First Blow?
The timing couldn’t have been more precarious. The strikes followed an alleged attack by Hamas militants on Israeli troops in Rafah, southern Gaza, where an anonymous Israeli military official said fighters used anti-tank missiles and sniper fire east of the agreed withdrawal line — a zone still under partial Israeli control per the ceasefire terms.
Hamas swiftly denied any involvement in the Rafah incident, insisting it had “no connection” to the shooting and calling Israel’s response a “flagrant violation” of the truce.
In a further escalation, the group’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, announced it was postponing a planned handover of another hostage’s body, recovered from a tunnel in Khan Younis, citing Israel’s “violations.”
Witnesses in Khan Younis described seeing militants, some masked, carrying a white body bag from a tunnel entrance before loading it into an ambulance, though the identity of the remains remained unclear.
Gaza’s Civil Defense agency reported initial casualties from the Israeli airstrikes, with several people killed and injured in Gaza City and Khan Younis, including three in the Sabra neighborhood and five others in a targeted car.
Local health authorities put the death toll at least eight, underscoring the swift human cost of the renewed violence.
reuters.com Hamas condemned the bombardment as “criminal,” while mediators — including an unnamed Arab official — downplayed the breaches as not “significant,” urging both sides to hold talks to salvage the deal.
What Becomes of the Truce Agreement Now?
This isn’t the first scare for the October 10 ceasefire, which emerged from President Donald Trump’s ambitious 20-point plan after months of grueling negotiations.
The agreement’s first phase involved the exchange of living hostages for Palestinian prisoners and detainees — Israel released over 1,900, while Hamas returned 20 alive — alongside a ramp-up in humanitarian aid through crossings like Kerem Shalom and Rafah.
But the handover of the remains of 13 deceased Israeli hostages, believed held in Gaza since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and sparked the war, has proven a persistent flashpoint.
Israel accuses Hamas of stalling amid Gaza’s rubble-strewn landscape, while the group says it’s struggling to locate all bodies without heavy equipment.
A similar mix-up occurred during a February ceasefire, when DNA tests revealed one returned body belonged to a Palestinian woman, not an Israeli hostage.
The truce has faced earlier tests. On October 19, Israel launched airstrikes after two soldiers were killed in Rafah clashes, killing 26 Palestinians according to local reports, though both sides later reaffirmed commitment to the deal.
Trump, traveling in East Asia at the time of Tuesday’s strikes, had previously signaled flexibility, telling CNN earlier in the month that Israeli forces could “return to the streets ‘as soon as I say the word'” if Hamas failed to comply.
Yet U.S. officials urged restraint this time, with senior aides telling Netanyahu’s team that the hostage remains issue didn’t constitute a “material breach” and warning against actions that could collapse the truce.
Vice President JD Vance, fresh off a mid-October visit to Jerusalem, insisted the ceasefire was still “holding” and described Trump’s efforts as achieving a “historic peace” in the Middle East, even as he acknowledged the “tough task” of disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza.
Those U.S. visits — including Vance’s October 22 meeting with Netanyahu, alongside envoys like Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff — have been dubbed “Bibisitting” by Israeli media, a nod to Washington’s frantic efforts to keep the Israeli leader on track.
During one session, Netanyahu stressed Israel’s independence, rejecting any notion that “the American administration controls me and dictates Israel’s security policy,” while calling the U.S. a “partnership.”
Several Nations May Now Get Involved
Vance, in turn, floated the idea of an “international security force” — potentially involving nations like Indonesia, the UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and Azerbaijan — to secure Gaza as Israel withdraws, though Netanyahu made clear Israel would veto any unacceptable contributors.
On the ground, the ceasefire’s early days brought glimmers of normalcy: aid trucks rolled into Khan Younis, EuroLeague basketball games eyed a return to Israeli arenas by December 1, and Hamas even pledged to mediators to halt public executions of rival clan members.
But Gaza’s Government Media Office tallied 125 Israeli violations since October 10, including the deaths of 94 Palestinians, while the UN Human Rights Office reported at least 15 civilians shot near redeployed Israeli positions.
Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose figures are deemed reliable by UN agencies, says over 68,500 Palestinians have died in the war — a toll that doesn’t distinguish civilians from combatants, though Israel contests it without offering its own count.
Beyond Gaza, the ripples extend. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed three Palestinian militants near Jenin on Tuesday during a raid on a cave, followed by an airstrike to seal it — an operation Hamas decried, identifying two victims as its Qassam Brigades members.
Critics, including opposition figures like Avigdor Liberman, have lambasted Netanyahu for “defeatism,” arguing he “forced a ceasefire” on the IDF instead of resuming full war after earlier Hamas breaches.
As Egypt dispatches experts and heavy machinery to aid in hostage remains searches in Khan Younis and Nuseirat, and far-right voices in Netanyahu’s coalition clamor for escalation, the path forward looks muddled.
An Arab mediator told reporters both sides had “violated the agreement, but there was no significant breach,” echoing a sentiment that this latest flare-up might yet be contained.
Still, with Trump’s broader vision — including Hamas disarmament, international peacekeepers, and post-war governance — hanging in the balance, the stakes feel higher than ever.
For families still awaiting closure on loved ones, and for Gaza’s weary residents navigating aid lines amid fresh ruins, the strikes serve as a stark reminder: peace here remains as elusive as it is essential.
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