Israel Says Ceasefire Resumes as Gaza Death Toll Hits 104

The strikes, the deadliest since the ceasefire began on October 10, were the most serious challenge yet to the tenuous ceasefire.

The bombardment signaled Israel’s readiness to strike hard at what it said were Hamas violations of the ceasefire agreement. The militant group, meanwhile, denies responsibility and blames Israel for the violations.

After announcing the restoration of the ceasefire, the Israeli army said it carried out another airstrike in northern Gaza, targeting the area where weapons were stored for an imminent attack. Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said two bodies were recovered from the attack.

The latest violence puts new pressure on American pressure to keep the ceasefire on track. US President Donald Trump defended Israel’s attacks but also insisted the tensions would not disrupt the ceasefire.

Israel said the night attacks were in retaliation for the shooting death of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said that Hamas violated the provisions of the agreement regarding the handover of the hostages’ remains.

Hamas denied any involvement in the deadly shooting and in turn accused Israel of “blatant violations of the ceasefire agreement”. He also stated that the delivery of a hostage’s body to Israel would be postponed due to the attacks.

Deadly strikes in Gaza Strikes in Gaza early Wednesday hit buildings and tent camps housing displaced families.

Ambulances and small trucks carrying bodies filled the hospital entrances. In Deir al-Balah, bodies were carried on stretchers or mattresses. A man entered the hospital carrying the body of a young child.

“They burned the children while they were sleeping,” Haneen Mteir, whose sister and nephews were killed in the attack, shouted at the Nasser Hospital morgue in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that at least 104 people, including 20 women and 46 children, died in the night attacks and 253 people, mostly women and children, were injured.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it had struck dozens of Hamas targets, including individuals, observation posts, weapons depots, mortar positions and tunnels.

It was stated that many high-ranking Hamas fighters, including 21 commanders at various levels, were shot. The statement stated that these included militants who took part in the attack on Israel led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which started the war, including Hatem Maher Mousa Qudra, the commander of the Nukhba company who led the attack on Ein Hashlosha Kibbutz.

The military said it would continue to “respond decisively and act decisively to eliminate any threat to the State of Israel.”

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said Hamas was responsible for the consequences of the ceasefire violation and attributed the high death toll to the militant group using civilians as human shields.

Throughout the war, Israel frequently struck targets it said were Hamas figures in their homes or in shelters where their families were with other families.

How were the attacks triggered? An Israeli military official said Wednesday that the soldier in Rafah, identified as Master Sergeant, said: Yona Efraim Feldbaum, 37, was killed by “enemy fire” targeting her vehicle on Tuesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss covert military operations, said Israeli troops in the area were attacked multiple times on Tuesday as they tried to destroy tunnels and Hamas infrastructure. According to satellite photos, the Israeli army has destroyed almost the entire city of Rafah in recent months and destroyed almost every building.

Hamas insisted it had nothing to do with the shooting in Rafah, reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire and called on mediators to pressure Israel to stop.

Trump defends Israel. State Department spokesman Marmorstein said that Washington was informed about the attacks and that the attacks were carried out in full coordination with the USA.

During his trip to Asia, Trump defended the attacks, saying Israel was justified in carrying out these attacks after Hamas killed an Israeli soldier who was also a US citizen.

Trump said Israel “must respond” when its soldiers are attacked. But he said he was still confident the ceasefire could withstand increased violence because “Hamas is a very small part of the overall Middle East peace and they need to behave themselves.”

Otherwise, they would be “terminated,” Trump added.

Trade accusations Netanyahu this week accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire by handing over body parts that Israel said were the partial remains of a hostage captured early in the war. Israeli officials also accused Hamas of staging the discovery of some of the remains by sharing a 14-minute edited video from a military drone on Monday.

Hamas responded in kind on Wednesday, saying the Israeli attacks revealed “Israel’s clear intention to undermine the ceasefire agreement and impose new realities through the use of force.” The group also stated in its statement that the United States offered Netanyahu a “political cover” to continue his aggression in Gaza.

Qatar’s prime minister, who brokered the ceasefire agreement along with the United States and Egypt, said the ceasefire agreement had been violated “by the Palestinian side” but it was unclear whether Hamas had links to the gunmen responsible.

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the conflict was “hugely disappointing and frustrating for us”. “We are in very intensive contact with both sides to ensure that the ceasefire continues.”

The ceasefire agreement requires Hamas to return the remains of hostages in Gaza as soon as possible.

Hamas said it had difficulty finding the hostages’ bodies amid massive destruction in Gaza, while Israel accused the militant group of deliberately delaying their return.

The bodies of 13 hostages remain in Gaza, and their slow return is complicating efforts to advance to the next phases of the ceasefire, which address tougher issues such as disarmament of Hamas, deployment of international security force in Gaza and deciding who will govern the region.

Funeral prayers in Gaza hospitals Palestinians in Gaza were shaken after the attacks. At dawn, Palestinians in a displacement camp cleared the remains of a collapsed tent next to a crater. They found the body of a small child and wrapped it in a blanket.

“What kind of ceasefire is this?” Amna Qrinawi said.

Scores of people gathered around dozens of bodies wrapped in white shrouds for funeral prayers at Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza.

Yehya Eid, who said he lost his brother and nephews, cried over a small body wrapped in a bloody white shroud in front of the hospital. He said the strike occurred without any warning.

“These are the children who were killed. What did they do wrong? Did they fight in the war?” Bayram asked.

Israel’s two-year campaign in Gaza has killed more than 68,500 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, 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.