The Israeli military launched fresh airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing at least nine people, after accusing Hamas of violating the US-brokered ceasefire.
The army said the strikes targeted Hamas militant infrastructure as tensions rose following the discovery of a deceased hostage and growing signs that the fragile truce was unraveling.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to carry out “immediate, powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a short statement.
A military official said Hamas had attacked Israeli troops east of the so-called yellow line, which separates Israeli-occupied Gaza from the remainder of the territory. The troops, in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, had come under RPG and sniper fire, the official said.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hamas would pay a “heavy price” for the attack on Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and vowed that Israel would respond “with great force.”
Soon after, an Israeli strike in the Al-Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City killed at least three women and a man, according to Gaza Civil Defense, while in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip at least five people were killed, including two children and a woman. In northern Gaza, the director of Al Shifa hospital Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya reported at least three strikes landing nearby.
But Hamas denied breaching any article of the ceasefire agreement.
Suhail al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza, said, “Israel must realise that we are committed to the agreement, and they must stop falsely accusing us of violating it.
al-Hindi told Al Jazeera the group faced “significant difficulties” during the recovery of the bodies of the Israeli captives.
“We have made every effort possible to recover the bodies, and the occupation bears full responsibility for any delay in recovering the remaining bodies.”
However, according to Al Jazeera, Gaza’s civil defence confirmed the death toll.
It added that four others were injured in Tuesday’s attack on the Sabra neighbourhood south of Gaza City.
A military official said Hamas had attacked Israeli troops east of the so-called yellow line, which separates Israeli-occupied Gaza from the remainder of the territory. The troops, in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, had come under RPG and sniper fire, the official said.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, Hani Mahmoud, said a missile had fallen behind the al-Shifa Hospital.
Mahmoud that Gaza is in tumult as drones continue to hover in the sky.
He said, “Eyewitnesses described the strike as massive. We are in an area about 20 minutes away, and we could hear it from here. The attack caused a state of mayhem and panic among patients and medical staff inside the hospital.”
However, Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, claimed Hamas operatives targeted Israeli troops.
Katz pledged that the group would “pay a heavy price” for alleged attacks on soldiers and for “violating the agreement to return the bodies of the hostages”.
Al Jazeera/CNN/ANN
