Israel says it will uphold Gaza ceasefire a day after strikes kill 104 people
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A flare fired by the Israeli army over the northern part of Gaza, seen from Kfar Aza, southern Israel, on Oct 29.
PHOTO: EPA
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ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/JERUSALEM – The Israeli military said on Oct 29 that it will abide by a ceasefire accord in Gaza, as health officials in the enclave said air strikes had killed 104 people, with both sides trading blame for violations of the deal.
Israel kept up air strikes in Gaza late on Oct 29, killing dozens of people, after it said an attack by Palestinian militants killed one soldier, in the latest challenge to an already fragile ceasefire.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it would continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and would respond firmly to “any violation”.
Ceasefire not at risk, Trump says
US President Donald Trump said a US-backed ceasefire in Gaza
The Gaza Health Ministry said that 46 children and 20 women were among the 104 people killed in Israeli strikes since Oct 28. Reuters could not immediately verify the numbers, but Reuters video showed several bodies of women and children inside a hospital during funeral processions.
“As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier,” Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back.”
The Israeli military confirmed the soldier’s death on Oct 29.
“Nothing is going to jeopardise” the ceasefire, Mr Trump said. “You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”
Israel says Hamas attacked soldiers within ‘yellow line’
Some displaced Palestinians feared the truce was falling apart. Mr Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three children, recalled the sounds of explosions throughout the night, a reminder of a war that has killed tens of thousands.
“It was one of the worst nights since the ceasefire was signed. The sounds of explosions and planes made us feel as if war had started again,” Mr Zayda, who lives in tents in western Gaza City with his 25-member family, told Reuters via a chat app.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that he ordered immediate “powerful attacks”.
An Israeli military official said Hamas violated the ceasefire by carrying out an attack against Israeli forces stationed within the so-called “yellow line”, the deployment line agreed upon in the ceasefire.
“If they (Hamas) are good, they are going to be happy and if they are not good, they are going to be terminated; their lives will be terminated,” Mr Trump said.
“Nobody knows what happened to the Israeli soldier but they say it was sniper fire. And it was retribution for that, and I think they have a right to do that.”
Hamas denied responsibility for the attack on Israeli forces in Rafah, in southern Gaza, and said in a statement that it remained committed to the ceasefire deal.
Turkey late on Oct 28 said the renewed attacks were a violation of the ceasefire and that the Israeli government must be pushed by world powers to fully adhere to the deal and end its “policy of genocide”.
Palestinians gather next to the body of a man, who according to medics was killed in an Israeli strike, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Oct 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Accord involves return of hostage remains
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 all of the bodies. Israel says the militant group can access the remains of most of the hostages.
The issue has become one of the main sticking points in the ceasefire, which Mr Trump says he is watching closely.
Mr Netanyahu said human remains handed over on Oct 27
The Israeli military said that Hamas had planted the remains at an excavation site before calling in a Red Cross team and pretending it had found a missing hostage, to create a “false impression of efforts to locate bodies”.
A 14-minute video published by the military showed three men placing a white bag at an excavation site and then covering it with earth and rocks.
Reuters was able to independently confirm the location of the video, but was unable to verify the date of the video or Israel’s account of what the video showed.
Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its team was unaware that the remains had been planted at the site before its arrival. “It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged, when so much depends on this agreement being upheld and when so many families are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones,” the ICRC said in a statement. REUTERS
