US says Hamas is planning ‘imminent’ attack on civilians
The US State Department said it had “credible reports” that Hamas was planning an “imminent” attack on civilians in Gaza, which would violate the ceasefire agreement.
A planned attack on Palestinians would be a “direct and serious” violation of the ceasefire agreement and would “undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts,” it said in a statement on Saturday.
The State Department did not provide further details about the attack, and it was unclear which reports it was referring to.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel is currently ongoing; All surviving hostages have been released, and the bodies of those who died are still being sent to Israel.
As part of the agreement, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons and 1,718 detainees in Gaza.
Washington said it had already notified the other guarantors of the Gaza peace deal, including Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, and demanded Hamas to comply with ceasefire terms.
“If Hamas continues this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and the integrity of the ceasefire.” he said in the statement.
Hamas has not yet commented on the statement.
President Donald Trump has previously warned Hamas against killing civilians.
“If Hamas keeps killing people in Gaza, which was not the Agreement, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social earlier this week.
He later announced that he would not send US soldiers to Gaza.
Last week BBC Verify verified graphic videos showing public executions carried out by Hamas gunmen in Gaza.
The videos show several armed men lining up eight people with their arms tied behind their backs before killing them in a crowded square.
BBC Verify was unable to confirm the identities of the masked gunmen, but some were seen wearing green headbands associated with Hamas.
on Saturday, Israel says it has recovered two more bodies from Gaza They are what Hamas says are hostages, although they have not yet been officially identified.
The remains of 10 of the 28 hostages killed so far have been returned to Israel.
separately on Saturday 11 members of a Palestinian family killed The deadliest incident involving Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the beginning of the ceasefire was fired by an Israeli tank artillery shell, according to the Hamas-run civil defense ministry.
The Israeli army said soldiers opened fire on a “suspicious vehicle” that crossed the so-called yellow line in Gaza, which borders the area still occupied by Israeli forces.
There is no physical sign for this line and it is unclear whether the bus crosses this line. The BBC requested the coordinates of the incident from the Israel Defense Forces.
The Israeli military launched an operation in Gaza in response to an October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel in which Hamas-led gunmen killed nearly 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
At least 68,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
In September, the UN commission of inquiry found that Israel He committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel categorically rejected the report as “distorted and inaccurate”.
