Israel says ceasefire and aid to resume after airstrikes kill 26 in Gaza
Aid to the region will resume on Monday following pressure from the United States, an Israeli security source said, shortly after Israel said it was withholding supplies in response to what Hamas said was “clearly” violating the ceasefire.
The Israeli military said it struck Hamas targets in the area, including field commanders, gunmen, a tunnel and weapons depots, after the militants launched an anti-tank missile and opened fire on its soldiers, killing them.
According to local residents and health officials, at least 26 people, including at least one woman and one child, died in the strikes. At least one attack hit a former school housing displaced people in the Nuseyrat district, residents said.
US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to travel to Israel on Monday, an Israeli official and a US official said.
Hamas’s armed wing said it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement, was unaware of the clashes in Rafah and had not been in contact with groups there since March. US Vice President JD Vance did not mention the Israeli attacks when asked by reporters about Gaza on Sunday evening, but said that Hamas has approximately 40 different cells and that a security infrastructure does not yet exist to verify their disarmament. “Some of these cells will probably honor the ceasefire. As we’ve seen some evidence today, most of these cells will not,” he said. “For us to make sure that Hamas is properly disarmed, it will require some of the Gulf Arab states to send forces there, enforce some law and order and maintain security on the ground.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he ordered the army to respond strongly to what Hamas described as ceasefire violations.
THE ROAD TO PEACE IS UNCERTAIN
Fearing that the ceasefire might be broken, some Palestinians rushed to buy goods at the main market in Nusayrat, and families fled their homes in Khan Younis further south after nearby airstrikes.
The attacks recalled Israel’s response to what it viewed as serious violations of a ceasefire with Hamas’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah, which was signed in late 2024, less than a week after the ceasefire came into force, and followed days of mutual accusations of ceasefire violations, even though the ceasefire has largely remained in place since then.
But formidable obstacles remain to a lasting peace in Gaza, where a ceasefire broke down in March after almost two months of relative calm as Israel rained down airstrikes.
DISPUTE OVER THE BODIES OF DEAD HOSTS
The new ceasefire took effect on October 10, halting two years of war, but the Israeli government and Hamas have been accusing each other of violating the ceasefire for days.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the “yellow line” from which Israeli forces retreated under the ceasefire agreement would be physically marked and any attempt to violate the ceasefire or cross the line would be met with fire.
Hamas stated that a series of violations by Israel led to the deaths of 46 people and prevented essential supplies from reaching the region.
On Saturday, Israel said the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which is expected to reopen this week, will remain closed and its reopening will depend on Hamas fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire. Israel says Hamas has been too slow in returning the bodies of dead hostages. Hamas released all 20 living hostages it was holding last week and handed over 12 of the 28 captives who died in the following days.
MORE HELP NEEDED
The group says it had no interest in retaining the bodies of the remaining hostages and that special equipment is needed to recover bodies buried under the rubble.
The door to prosperity has been largely closed since May 2024. The ceasefire agreement also includes increasing aid to Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people were determined to be affected by famine in August, according to the IPC global hunger monitoring agency.
The pass served as an important conduit for humanitarian aid to flow into the region during previous ceasefires.
Although the flow of aid through another crossing point had increased significantly since the ceasefire began until Sunday’s decision to suspend aid, the United Nations says much more is needed.
Fundamental questions such as the disarmament of Hamas, the future governance of Gaza, the creation of an international “stabilization force” and moves towards the establishment of a Palestinian state have not yet been resolved.
