Israel says it will return to ceasefire after Gaza strikes

The Israeli military has said it will resume enforcement of the ceasefire in Gaza after launching air strikes on Sunday in response to what it called Hamas’s “blatant violation” of the deal.

Strikes began in southern Gaza after the Israeli military said “terrorists fired an anti-tank missile and gunfire” toward its troops in Rafah, killing two soldiers.

Hamas said it was “unaware” of any clashes in the area under Israeli control.

By evening, Israel said it had hit Hamas targets across Gaza, with hospital sources saying 44 people were killed.

Hamas had said it was committed to the ceasefire, but accused Israel of violations and warned strikes could “push the situation toward a total collapse”.

After 21:00 local time, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it “had begun renewed enforcement of the ceasefire”, adding that it would uphold the agreement and “respond firmly to any violation of it”.

The statement did not directly specify whether an earlier announcement to suspend aid entering Gaza had also been reversed.

The first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, which started on 10 October, saw an immediate end to fighting, the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops to a so-called yellow line along the north, east and south of Gaza, and an increase of aid.

Hamas has released all living hostages, as well as the remains of 12 out of 28 of those deceased.

Israel has freed 250 Palestinian prisoners in its jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza, and returned 15 bodies of Palestinians in return for every Israeli hostage’s remains.

That agreement was put to the test on Sunday. Gaza suffered the worst day of violence since US President Donald Trump gathered world leaders in Egypt last week beneath a banner proclaiming “Peace in the Middle East”.

American pressure is now needed to keep this ceasefire deal on track and to that end Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are due in Israel shortly.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military said “terrorists fired an anti-tank missile and gunfire toward IDF troops operating to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the Rafah area, in southern Gaza”.

“In response, the IDF has begun striking in the area to eliminate the threat and dismantle tunnel shafts and military structures used for terrorist activity.”

Hamas’s military wing denied knowledge of any clashes in the Rafah area.

In its statement, al-Qassam Brigades said: “Contact with our remaining groups there has been cut off since the resumption of war in March of this year.

“Therefore, we have no connection to any events taking place in those areas, and we cannot communicate with any of our fighters there, if any of them are still alive.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said two soldiers – Major Yaniv Kola and Sergeant Itay Yavetz – were killed in “the tragic incident in Rafah”.

His office earlier said Netanyahu had met top defence officials and instructed them “to act forcefully against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip”.

Residents living south of the nearby European Hospital said the strikes were accompanied by artillery shelling, with explosions shaking parts of Rafah.

Residents also reported at least 12 air strikes in eastern Khan Younis, part of what people described as a “fire belt”.

The attacks sent plumes of smoke rising above the city and caused panic among displaced families sheltering nearby.

In central Gaza, a doctor at al-Aqsa Hospital said nine bodies were brought in after two separate strikes hit a small seaside café in a tent in al-Zawaida and a building in Nuseirat.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC that huge fireballs lit up the coast and powerful secondary explosions echoed as ambulances and rescuers raced to the scene.

Six of those killed in the al-Zawaida strike were members of al-Qassam Brigades, local sources said.

Among them was Yahya al-Mabhouh, the commander of Hamas’ elite unit in the Jabalia Battalion, whose death marks one of the group’s most significant losses since the ceasefire began.

Separately, a doctor at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said four bodies were brought in after an Israeli air strike hit a school sheltering displaced families.

The doctor said the casualties including several women and children.

Under the 20-point ceasefire deal brokered by Trump, Hamas is supposed to relinquish its weapons so that it no longer poses a threat to Israel.

Hamas has accused Israel of arming a criminal gang of looters that it says is operating with impunity in the Israeli-controlled half of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, which has ruled the territory for 18 years, is facing a challenge from armed groups, such as Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces, gangs which it says are being armed and supported by Israel.

A local source familiar with Sunday morning’s incident told the BBC that Hamas fighters attacked a group affiliated with Abu Shabab in south-eastern Rafah, an area controlled by Israeli forces.

The militants reportedly came under surprise tank fire, leading to a short exchange of gunfire before Israeli warplanes bombed the site.

An Israeli military official later said there were “at least three incidents in which Hamas fired towards our troops standing behind the yellow line”, adding attacks were “not connected to any type of internal fighting”.

IDF forces still occupy and control just over 50% of Gaza.

The strikes in Rafah came hours after the US said it had “credible reports” that Hamas was planning an “imminent” attack on civilians in Gaza, which, it said, would be a “direct and grave” violation of the ceasefire agreement.

A planned attack against Palestinians would “undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts”, the state department said.

Hamas has strongly denied any planned imminent attack.

Fierce clashes erupted a week ago involving Hamas security forces and armed members of the Dughmush family in Gaza City, killing 27 people.

Trump has previously warned Hamas against the killing of civilians.

“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” the president said in a post on Truth Social earlier this week, later clarifying he would not be sending US troops into Gaza.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage.

At least 68,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

Additional reporting by Paulin Kola