Palestinians inspect the rubble of a home destroyed by an Israeli army strike in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip.Abdel Kareem Hana/The Associated Press
Israel said on Wednesday it was still committed to the U.S.-backed ceasefire in Gaza, despite its retaliation for the death of an Israeli soldier with day-long bombardment that Gaza health authorities said killed 104 people.
Even as the military affirmed it still intended to uphold the truce in the Palestinian enclave, it announced it had carried out another air strike in the north of Gaza where it said weapons had been stored. Medics said two people were killed in that attack.
The killing of an Israeli soldier in Gaza on Tuesday has triggered the worst escalation there since the ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump came into effect on Oct. 10 after two years of war triggered by deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel.
Israel says the soldier was killed in an attack by gunmen on territory within the “yellow line” where its troops withdrew under the truce. Hamas has rejected the accusation.
Israel described its Wednesday’s attack as a targeted strike near Beit Lahia in the north of the strip, where it said weapons had been stored. It said it would continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement while responding firmly to any violation.
Here's what you need to know about Gaza and the Israel-Hamas war, including the ceasefire deal, the toll of the war so far and what comes next.
In response to the soldier’s death, the military launched what it described as strikes targeting dozens of Hamas militants across the enclave, as well as weapons depots and tunnels belonging to the group.
It named 24 militant targets, including one it described as a Hamas commander who took part in an attack on a kibbutz during the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel that ignited the war.
The Gaza health ministry said 46 children and 20 women were among the 104 people killed in the air strikes.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office issued a statement saying Israel’s list of targets was a product of a “systematic campaign of misinformation, forgery, and lies aimed at distorting the truth and covering up its ongoing crimes against civilians.”
In Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip, neighbours said the entire Abu Dalal family had been wiped out in an air strike that flattened their home overnight.
A boy in a wheelchair wailed as the family’s bodies in white plastic body bags were loaded into the back of a flatbed truck. Crowds followed as the bodies were driven through the streets to a cemetery.
Despite the bombardments, Trump said the ceasefire was not at risk.
Rami Abu Dalal, 15, cries during the funeral of his father, Nazar Abu Dalal, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip.Abdel Kareem Hana/The Associated Press
“As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back,” he added.
“Nothing is going to jeopardize” the ceasefire, Trump added. “You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”
He has touted the truce and hostage-prisoner exchange deal as one of the top foreign policy achievements of his second term, and he and his top aides have sought to keep the ceasefire from unravelling.
The latest flare-up has underscored the stumbling blocks to a lasting peace. Key questions of Hamas disarming, further Israeli troop pullbacks and future governance of Gaza remain unresolved.
Hamas widens search for hostages’ bodies in Gaza
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who has acted as a mediator, said on Wednesday that the attack on the Israeli soldier and the subsequent Israeli air strikes had been “very disappointing and frustrating for us.”
Displaced Palestinians feared the truce could fall apart.
“The sounds of explosions and planes made us feel as if war had started again,” Ismail Zayda, 40, living in tents in western Gaza City with his 25-member family, told Reuters via a chat app.
Under the accord, Hamas released all living hostages in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and wartime detainees, while Israel pulled back its troops and halted its offensive.
Hamas also agreed to hand over the remains of all dead hostages yet to be recovered, but has said that it will take time to locate and retrieve them. Israel has accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire by stalling in handing over bodies.