US President Donald Trump has defended Israel's renewed air strikes on Gaza, saying it “should hit back” if troops were killed, as the death toll from the bombing crossed 100 on Wednesday morning.
Mr Trump was speaking as the Israeli military confirmed one soldier had been killed in the enclave's south, accusing Hamas of breaching the truce. Israel retaliated on Tuesday night with a bombardment that caused mass casualties including the death of 35 children, Gaza's civil defence authorities reported.
Hamas denied any involvement in the death of the soldier, saying its fighters had “no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah”. The group reaffirmed its commitment to the US-brokered ceasefire.
Mr Trump said on Air Force One during his tour of Asia that an Israeli soldier had been killed. “So the Israelis hit back. And they should hit back,” he added.
“Nobody knows what happened to the Israeli soldier but they say it was sniper fire. And it was retribution for that, and I think they have a right to do that.”
But he added that nothing would jeopardise the ceasefire in Gaza.
US Vice President JD Vance said he believed the truce was holding despite the “skirmishes”.
“We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an IDF soldier … but I think the President's peace is going to hold,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “powerful strikes” after the alleged attack on Israeli troops. A court hearing in Israel for Mr Netanyahu's criminal trial on bribery and fraud charges was cut short due to the new outbreak of violence.
Official Palestinian media said an Israeli drone attacked a home in Al Sabra neighbourhood south of Gaza city, killing four people and wounding nine, including two children.
In the Nuseirat refugee camp, one person was killed and others wounded when a tent sheltering displaced people was bombed, the Wafa news agency added. Five people were also killed in a bombing of a vehicle on a street in Khan Younis.
Gaza's Al Awda Hospital said it had received several bodies, including those of four children, killed in the Nuseirat camp.
"In less than 12 hours, the Israeli occupation forces committed horrific massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the martyrdom of more than 100 citizens, including about 35 children," Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.
In response to the air strikes, Hamas announced it would delay handing over the body of another hostage, saying Israeli “escalation will hinder the search, excavation and recovery of the bodies”.
A row over the last remaining bodies of dead hostages still in Gaza has threatened to derail the ceasefire agreement.
Israel accuses Hamas of reneging by not returning them, but the Palestinian group says it will take time to locate the remains buried by the ruins of war.
Hamas on Monday said it had returned the remains of a captive. But an Israeli forensic examination determined the group had in fact handed over the partial remains of a hostage whose body had already been brought back to Israel about two years ago, according to Mr Netanyahu's office.
Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian accused Hamas of staging the discovery of the remains.
“Hamas dug a hole in the ground yesterday, placed the partial remains … inside of it, covered it back up with dirt and handed it over to the Red Cross,” she said.
A group representing families of the hostages urged the government to “act decisively against these violations” and accused Hamas of knowing the location of the missing bodies.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem rejected those claims, arguing that Israel's bombardment during the two-year Gaza war had left locations unrecognisable.
The Palestinian group has already returned all 20 living hostages as agreed in the ceasefire deal.
Palestinian political analyst Hani Al Aqqad told The National that the ceasefire was “hanging by a thread”.
International mediators must act urgently to salvage what is left of the truce, he added.
“The mediators must pressure Israel to withdraw from Gaza and start the second phase of the agreement, even if the issue of the bodies remains unresolved,” Mr Al Aqqad said.
