Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to immediately carry out “powerful” attacks in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu made the announcement shortly after Israel said that Hamas had opened fire at Israeli forces in southern Gaza.
Tensions were already high after Israel accused Hamas of breaching the fragile ceasefire agreement by handing back the additional remains of hostage Ofir Tzarfati, who had already been recovered and buried in 2023.
The prime minister’s office said the transfer was a “clear violation” of the agreement, increasingly under strain over the return of hostage bodies.
Netanyahu subsequently held a security assessment with defence officials to discuss a response.
Hamas was expected to hand over a body it had recovered from a tunnel in Gaza on Tuesday but has announced it would delay the return after Israel announced plans to strike. Hamas’s armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, announced the postponement, citing what it said were Israel’s violations of the ceasefire.
Amid a delicate ceasefire, an Israeli military official said troops retaliated after Hamas fired on its forces in Rafah earlier on Tuesday.
An Israeli official said the attack in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is under Israeli control, is “yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire,” according to Reuters.
Hamas has yet to return the bodies of 13 hostages, which it said were difficult to locate among the destruction in Gaza. Israel has accused the group of deliberately delaying the handover.
Mr Tzarfati was kidnapped in the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 and killed in captivity.
In a statement, Mr Tzarfati’s family said this was the third time “we have been forced to open Ofir’s grave and rebury our son.” Israeli troops recovered his body in November 2023, and in March 2024, his family received additional remains for burial.
The return of his body is the second time in which a handover has been problematic after Hamas gave back the body of an unidentified Palestinian in the first week of the ceasefire.
Hamas expanded its search for the bodies of the hostages of Sunday, after Egypt deployed a team of experts and heavy equipment to help in the search.
More to follow…
