Netanyahu’s government has accused Hamas of violating the cease-fire after returning the partial remains of a previously-released hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered fresh military strikes on the war-torn Gaza Strip on Oct. 28, after accusing Hamas of violating a cease-fire put in place earlier this month.
“Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu has directed the military to immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” his office said on Tuesday.
The cease-fire deal obligates Hamas—an internationally-designated terrorist group—to return all hostages it has held in Gaza, including both the living and dead.
While Hamas turned over all of the living hostages, there have been delays in returning the remains of all 28 hostages believed to be deceased at the start of this latest cease-fire.
Hamas was originally supposed to turn over all of the bodies by Oct. 13, but the bodies of 13 hostages still have yet to be returned to Israel, as the group has claimed challenges locating all of their remains.
The new military action comes after Netanyahu convened a cabinet meeting earlier in the day to assess next steps after Israeli authorities determined the last set of partial hostage remains had belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, a hostage whose remains had been repatriated about two years ago. As a result, Netanyahu had accused Hamas of violating the cease-fire.
This is not the first time Hamas appears to have misidentified remains being turned over to Israel. On Oct. 15, Israeli authorities concluded the Palestinian group had handed over a set of remains that did not match up to any of the 28 deceased hostages.
Tuesday’s strikes follow other Israeli strikes on Gaza since the start of the cease-fire.
On Oct. 19, the Israeli military announced it had struck targets across the territory, after reporting its forces had come under attack from gunfire and an anti-tank missile near the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The armed wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement denying any connection to attacks in the Rafah area, and stating that its forces had not been in contact with groups in that area since March.
This weekend, Israeli forces announced they had also conducted an airstrike against alleged members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another group designated as a terrorist group by the United States and Israel. The Israeli military said the suspected Islamic Jihad fighters were planning new attacks.
Israel’s military also published drone footage online on Tuesday, saying it showed Hamas members moving human remains from one location to another and then reburying them, before alerting the Red Cross to the presence of those relocated remains. The Israeli military alleged that the transfer of remains was done to stage the discovery of those hostage remains.
In a Tuesday press statement, Al-Qassam Brigades claimed to have located another set of hostage remains in a set of tunnels in southern Gaza, and said that it would delay turning them over to the Israeli side after the latest round of strikes on the territory.
“We confirm that any Zionist escalation will hinder the search, excavation, and recovery of the bodies, which will lead to a delay in the occupation’s recovery of the bodies of its dead,” Al-Qassam Brigades said.
This is a breaking story and will be updated with additional details.
By Ryan Morgan
