GAZA CITY/TEL AVIV: At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured in a new wave of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Wednesday. The escalation came despite an existing US-brokered ceasefire, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the raids “powerful strikes” against Hamas.
Mahmud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence, said emergency crews were “still working to recover the dead and wounded from under the rubble.” According to the agency, at least three strikes hit different parts of Gaza — including one near Al-Shifa Hospital and another that killed five people when their vehicle was struck.
The Israeli military said the assault was in retaliation for Hamas fighters allegedly attacking Israeli troops in Rafah — a claim Hamas has denied. Defence Minister Israel Katz accused the group of “crossing a bright red line” and warned that Hamas’s actions “will be met with great force.”
Despite the renewed violence, US Vice President JD Vance insisted that the ceasefire “is holding,” describing the clashes as “little skirmishes.” Speaking to reporters, he said, “We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an IDF soldier. We expect the Israelis to respond, but the president’s peace is going to hold.”
Tensions have also deepened over the issue of returning hostage remains — a central element of the truce. Israel accused Hamas of staging a “fake recovery” after the group handed over partial remains of a captive whose body had reportedly been returned two years earlier. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) condemned the incident, saying it had been misled during the handover. “It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged when so many families are still awaiting news,” the ICRC said in a rare public statement.
Hamas, meanwhile, reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire, blaming Israeli bombardments for obstructing its efforts to locate and return bodies. “We are determined to hand over the remains of Israeli captives as soon as possible,” the group said.
The ceasefire, brokered by former US President Donald Trump’s administration on October 10, has failed to fully end hostilities. According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 68,500 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict erupted in October 2023, following Hamas’s attack on Israel that left 1,221 people dead and over 250 taken hostage.
As airstrikes resumed, fear of another all-out war spread across Gaza. “They accuse Hamas of stalling — that’s just a pretext for more escalation,” said Gaza resident Abdul-Hayy al-Hajj Ahmed. “We want peace, but I believe the war will return.”
