Gaza Ceasefire Tested As Israel And Hamas Exchange Fire And Blame

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military launched an offensive in Gaza on Tuesday as tensions with Hamas escalated into a fragile two-week truce, and the militant group responded by saying it would delay handing over the body of a hostage. At least seven Palestinians were killed, health officials said.

The flare-up of violence has presented one of the biggest tests yet for the ceasefire, and international mediators have scrambled to prevent it from collapsing. US Vice President JD Vance tried to downplay the clashes, saying he expected the “hostilities” to end quickly.

Incoming order Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu The decision to launch “strong strikes” came after an Israeli official said his forces had been fired on in southern Gaza and Hamas handed over body parts on Monday that Israel said were the partial remains of a hostage captured earlier in the war.

Netanyahu called the return of these body parts a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement. Hamas The immediate return of the hostages remaining in Gaza. Israeli officials also accused Hamas on Monday of staging the discovery of these ruins and shared a 14-minute edited video shot by a military drone in Gaza.

Israel informed the United States before launching the attack on Tuesday, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

According to Rami Mhanna, general director of the Shifa hospital where the bodies were taken, at least two Palestinians were killed in attacks in Gaza City. According to Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were taken, five Palestinians, including two children, lost their lives in an Israeli attack on a vehicle in Khan Younis.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because no official statement has been made yet, said that earlier in the day, fire was opened on Israeli troops in the southern city of Rafah and the fire was returned.

In a statement, Hamas denied involvement in the shooting in Rafah and reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire. “Israel’s violent attacks along the Strip are a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the group said and called on mediators to pressure Israel to stop.

The US vice president expressed confidence that the ceasefire would continue. “That doesn’t mean there won’t be little skirmishes here and there,” Vance told reporters on Capitol Hill.

Ceasefire started on October 10 It has largely survived despite violence flaring up at least twice before.

Israel announced that two Israeli soldiers were killed as a result of fire opened by Hamas on October 19. Israel responded with a series of attacks that left more than 40 Palestinians dead, according to local health officials. Over the weekend, Israel launched an airstrike against Islamic Jihad militants who were planning an attack, injuring many people.

There are still bodies of 13 hostages in Gaza. Hamas announced on Tuesday that it had found the body of a hostage, but after Israel announced its plans to attack Gaza, Hamas said in a statement that it would postpone the handover.

An AP cameraman in Khan Younis on Tuesday witnessed a white body bag being carried out of a tunnel by several men, including some masked militants, and then transferred to an ambulance. It is not yet clear what is in the bag.

The gradual return of the hostages’ bodies poses a challenge to the implementation of the next phases of the ceasefire, which will address more complex issues such as disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of international security forces in Gaza and deciding who will govern the region.

Hamas announced that they had difficulty finding the bodies Amid the massive destruction in GazaIsrael accused the militant group of deliberately delaying their return.

Over the weekend, Egypt deployed a team of experts and heavy equipment to help search for the bodies of the remaining hostages.

An Arab official involved in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas said talks were ongoing with both sides to prevent the ceasefire from collapsing. “Both parties violated the agreement, but there was no significant violation,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The official said the violations included delays in returning bodies, a limited increase in aid distribution and “minor skirmishes” along the line separating Israeli troops from the rest of Gaza.

It was determined that the remains returned to Israel at night belonged to Ofir Tzarfati.

Tzarfati was kidnapped during the attack on Israel led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which started the war. Militants killed nearly 1,200 people and took 251 hostages that day.

Tzarfati was killed in captivity and his body was retrieved by Israeli troops in November 2023. Additional remains were released to his family for burial in March 2024. In a statement, the family said: “This is the third time we had to open Ofir’s grave and rebury our son.”

The AP analyzed the video Israel released on Monday accusing Hamas of staging the discovery of Tzarfati’s remains.

The video shows a white body bag being thrown from a damaged building into an excavated area. Three masked men are seen burying the body bag before heavy machinery carries it to a nearby area where it is buried a second time. The men then dig up the body bag before photographs are taken. People wearing red vests were seen observing.

The AP geolocated the images and confirmed its location. But the AP could not confirm the date or time the film was shot or whether the remains were actually in the body bag.

“These images clearly show that the Hamas terrorist organization is trying to create a false impression about its efforts to locate the bodies, when in fact it is holding dead hostages, whose remains it refuses to release in accordance with the agreement,” the Israeli army said in a statement. he said.

Israeli government spokesman Shosh Bedrosyan described the scene as a “shameful hoax” and said Tzarfati’s partial remains were found in the body bag.

Hamas did not respond to AP’s request for comment, but in a statement accused Israel of obstructing efforts to search for more hostage remains.

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed in a statement that the team was there “in good faith” and was unaware of the circumstances that led to the discovery of the remains.

“It is unacceptable to stage a fake recovery when so much depends on maintaining this agreement and so many families are still anxiously awaiting news from their loved ones,” ICRC spokeswoman Sarah Davies said.

This is the second time since the ceasefire handed over by Hamas has been problematic. Israel said One of the bodies released by Hamas It belonged to an unidentified Palestinian during the first week of the ceasefire.

More than 68,500 Palestinians Died in the two-year war in GazaAccording to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in the count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are generally considered reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. Israel objected to them without specifying its own fee.

Brito reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Sam Mednick in Rome, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Beatrice Dupuy in New York, and Kevin Freking and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.