The Gaza ceasefire was hanging in the balance on Tuesday night as Israel struck targets across the enclave in response to what it termed two significant Hamas violations in the most significant escalation of the US-brokered truce to date.
Israeli air strikes and artillery fire were reported across Gaza, killing least nine people, including five militants in a car that was hit in Khan Younis.
US vice-president JD Vance told reporters that the Gaza ceasefire will hold, despite Tuesday’s escalation. “There are going to be little skirmishes here and there,” he said.
The first alleged Hamas violation occurred when Israel determined that a coffin handed over by Hamas on Monday night did not contain the body of one of the 13 remaining deceased hostages but more remains belonging to another captive whose body had been previously returned.
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Forensic tests showed the remains belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, murdered at the Nova music festival in the Hamas-led October 7th, 2023, attack on southern Israel. His body was recovered from Gaza by Israeli forces in late 2023.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released drone footage showing what it said was Hamas operatives carrying a white body bag, taken from a Gaza city building, with Tzarfati’s remains and placing it in a pit before covering it in earth and then alerting the Red Cross that they had found a body.
“This footage clearly shows that the Hamas terrorist organisation is attempting to create a false impression of efforts to locate the bodies, while in fact holding deceased hostages whose remains it refuses to release as required by the agreement,” the IDF said in its statement.
The second alleged major Hamas infringement came later on Tuesday when gunmen opened fire on Israeli troops near Rafah with anti-tank missiles and sniper fire. The IDF responded with artillery fire. Hamas claimed it was not connected to the incident.
After security consultations, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered the IDF to carry out “major strikes”. The military had presented numerous options to senior ministers, ranging from imposing sanctions to expanding the area under Israeli control.
Israel is co-ordinating its response with Washington and still wants to maintain the ceasefire, at least until Hamas returns all the bodies it can locate.
According to IDF assessments Hamas knows where all but four to six of the bodies are, but is delaying their return to gain time while it continues to reassert its control in the half of Gaza from which Israeli troops withdrew.
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Before the escalation, Hamas had announced that it would release the body of another hostage on Tuesday night but then cancelled the move, citing “Israeli violations”.
“We emphasise that any Zionist escalation will hinder search, digging, and retrieval operations of the bodies, which will lead to a delay in recovering the bodies of the occupation’s dead,” Hamas said in a statement, also noting several Israeli strikes in recent days and the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
According to Hamas more than 80 people have been killed since the ceasefire went into effect earlier this month.
Right-wing Israeli politicians urged a more forceful response to the Hamas violations. “We don’t need to ‘exact a price from Hamas’ for the violations, but rather destroy it completely,” said national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party.
Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the far-right Religious Zionist party, called for a resolute response. “We cannot allow Hamas to mock Israeli citizens and cruelly and cynically play with the emotions of the families of the hostages who have fallen,” he said.
