Gaza ceasefire challenged by strikes

JERUSALEM/GAZA — Israeli strikes overnight in Gaza have killed at least 100 people, including many children, local hospital officials said on Wednesday, in what is likely the most serious challenge to the ceasefire deal in Gaza since it came into force earlier this month.

"At least 101 fatalities were brought to hospitals, including 35 children and a number of women and elderly people, as a result of Israeli airstrikes in less than 12 hours," said Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority.

The toll was confirmed by an AFP tally of reports from medical officials at five Gaza hospitals that received the dead and wounded.

Bassal described the situation in Gaza as "catastrophic and terrifying", calling the strikes "a clear and flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement".

"The Israeli strikes targeted tents for displaced people, homes, and the vicinity of a hospital in the strip," he told AFP.

Commenting on the strikes, the Israeli military said on Wednesday that the ceasefire was back in effect after it completed a number of strikes in which "terror targets and terrorists" were hit inside Gaza.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces struck "30 terrorists holding command positions within terrorist organizations" operating inside the Palestinian territory.

It said Israeli forces would continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement but would "respond firmly" to any violation of the deal.

And the Israeli army said on Wednesday that one of its soldiers was killed during the latest attack.

Yona Efraim Feldbaum, 37, "fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip" on Tuesday, the army said in a statement.

The latest violence in the three-week-old ceasefire followed a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office saying he had ordered immediate "powerful attacks".

Both sides have accused each other of ceasefire violations.

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.

"The violent strikes carried out by Israel across the strip are a blatant violation of the ceasefire deal," said the militant group, calling on mediators to pressure Israel to stop the attacks.

Israel notified the United States before launching the strikes on Tuesday, according to two US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

US President Donald Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One on Wednesday that Israel "should hit back" when its troops come under attack.

But he said he's still confident the ceasefire, which started on Oct 10, would withstand the escalation in violence. "Hamas is a very small part of the overall Middle East peace. And they have to behave," he said.

"Nothing is going to jeopardize" the ceasefire, Trump added.

Crowded hospital

Meanwhile in Gaza, ambulances and small trucks carrying bodies crowded hospital entrances overnight across the strip.

In Deir al-Balah, bodies were wheeled in on stretchers, and others were carried in on mattresses. One man walked into the hospital carrying the body of a young child.

"They struck right next to us, and we saw all the rubble on top of us and our young ones," said a woman standing outside the hospital.

"What kind of ceasefire is this?" Amna Qrinawi, a survivor, asked.

Turkiye late on Tuesday said the renewed attacks on Gaza were a violation of the truce and that the Israeli government must be pushed by world powers to fully adhere to the deal and end its "policy of genocide".

Israel strongly denied that its actions in Gaza amounted to genocide, saying they were justified as self-defense. Israel is fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague that accuses it of genocide.

The ceasefire agreement went into effect on Oct 10, halting two years of fighting triggered by the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

Agencies via Xinhua