Israel carried out airstrikes across the Gaza Strip that killed at least 26 people, targeting commanders from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as both groups and Israeli forces accused each other of breaching the cease-fire.
Israel carried out airstrikes across several areas of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, in what local health officials called the deadliest assault in weeks, just as the ceasefire with Hamas was poised to enter a new phase.
Zaher al-Waheidi, an official at the Gaza health ministry, said at least 26 people had been killed in the strikes.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the airstrikes were aimed at commanders from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group.
According to the military, the operation followed an incident on Friday in which militants emerged from a tunnel in Rafah, an Israeli-controlled area in southern Gaza. The Israeli military described the incident as “a violation of the cease-fire agreement.”
Hamas said in a statement that the “bombardment” in Gaza was a “flagrant violation of the cease-fire agreement.”
Border crossing and return plans
The strikes occurred as the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was expected in the coming days, a long-delayed step under the US plan to end the war and a key element of the ceasefire agreement reached in October.
Reopening the crossing near the city of
Rafah would enable Palestinians displaced by the two-year-long war between Israel and Hamas to return to their homes for the first time.
Under the ceasefire arrangement, Hamas freed the remaining hostages held in Gaza in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, while Israeli forces pulled back to a designated line inside Gaza, leaving them in control of about half of the enclave. On Monday, Israeli forces recovered the body of the last Israeli captive held in Gaza, paving the way for the ceasefire to move forward.
Despite the truce, several episodes of violence have been reported in Gaza since it took effect, with each side accusing the other of breaching the agreement.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health says that Israel has killed more than 500 people in Gaza since the truce was announced. The health ministry’s figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
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