The ceasefire in Gaza came under major strain on Sunday as Israel carried out bombings across the strip, accusing Hamas of attacking its troops.
At least 44 people were killed in dozens of Israeli strikes across Gaza, according to official Palestinian media, shattering a week of relative calm since US President Donald Trump's truce deal. Israeli planes were once again attacking from Gaza's skies, and more than 120 munitions were dropped on alleged underground facilities.
Israel said the “series of strikes” was provoked by Hamas militants firing gunshots and an anti-tank missile at its troops in Rafah, in southern Gaza. The Israeli army said two soldiers were killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered troops to “act forcefully” in response. An Israeli security official said aid deliveries to Gaza would be suspended, in what would be a hammer blow to hopes of ending the famine in the strip.
However, hours later the Israeli military said the ceasefire had resumed, while Mr Trump also said it was still in force.
“In accordance with the directive of the political echelon, and following a series of significant strikes in response to Hamas's violations, the [army] has begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire, in line with the terms of the agreement,” the military said in a statement on X.
“The IDF will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it.”
Mr Trump suggested that Hamas leadership was not involved in any alleged breaches of the ceasefire, instead blaming “some rebels within”.
Hamas also denied responsibility for any attacks, accusing Israel of continuing to “breach the agreement and fabricate flimsy pretexts to justify its crimes”. It said it had no contact with fighters in the area, near the southern city of Rafah.
The Palestinian group said it had also found another body of a dead Israeli hostage, as part of a handover that Israel says is taking too long. About 15 of 28 bodies are still to be handed over under the deal, which was hailed last week by the US President as an end to the destructive two-year war. A Hamas delegation led by chief negotiator Khalil Al Hayya arrived in Cairo to follow up the implementation of the ceasefire deal with mediators and other Palestinian groups, Hamas said in a statement.
Israel said it carried out a “series of strikes” in southern Gaza, beginning in the Rafah area with attacks on “tunnel shafts and military structures”. Attacks were later reported across the strip, including in Khan Younis and Nuseirat.
Mr Netanyahu has vowed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt will remain shut until Israel's demands are met, frustrating hopes that the ceasefire would end the famine in Gaza. Hamas meanwhile said any Israeli escalation “will hinder the search, excavation and recovery of bodies”.
Israel’s security cabinet convened after the attack in Rafah. Mr Netanyahu’s office said he instructed security chiefs to “act forcefully against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip”. It is not known if militants were killed in the Israeli strikes.
The Israeli military hinted further strikes were coming in a warning to Gaza residents to remain west of a withdrawal line, saying it would “respond with great force” outside the purported safe areas.
Tensions were already running high following Israeli accusations that Hamas is stalling on the return of the bodies of dead hostages, Israel delaying the entry of humanitarian aid to the strip, and Mr Netanyahu’s vow on Saturday that the vital Rafah border crossing would remain shut.
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Mr Netanyahu to resume military operations in Gaza. “I call on the Prime Minister to order the [Israeli army] to renew full-scale fighting in the Strip at full strength,” he said in a post on X.
“The false belief that Hamas will change its ways, or will even abide by the agreement it signed, are proving, unsurprisingly, to be dangerous to our security. This Nazi terrorist organisation must be destroyed completely and the sooner the better.”
The far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posted on X: “War!”
The left-wing politician Yair Golan said the attack “demands a resolute response [against Hamas] − only this way are the rules of the game set”.
“Absolute victory in the Gaza Strip requires building a moderate alternative government to Hamas − an issue that the government has abandoned and chosen absolute failure,” he concluded.
At least two Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Jabalia in northern Gaza on Sunday, medical sources told the official news agency Wafa. The sources said that ambulance teams were unable to reach the site because of the dangerous situation there, and because the area is designated by the Israeli army as hazardous.
Wafa also reported that five Palestinians were killed and several injured in an Israeli drone strike on Zuwaida in central Gaza. Medical sources said three people were killed in a strike on a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
Israel has meanwhile returned the remains of 15 more Palestinians to Gaza through the Red Cross, taking the total number of bodies handed over to 150, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Sunday. The ministry said that 25 of the bodies have been identified so far.
The bombing in Gaza was accompanied by fresh reports of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday. Wafa said Israeli settlers forced olive farmers off their land during picking season and set fire to vehicles in what it claimed was a “campaign of state-sponsored violence”.
It said Israel had also bulldozed a Palestinian-owned plot of land in East Jerusalem. The Israeli government recently approved plans for a major settlement in ultra-sensitive lands nearby, in what one minister openly said would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state.
