Israeli planes and tanks pounded areas in eastern Gaza yesterday, Palestinian residents and witnesses said, a day after Israel said it remained committed to a US-backed ceasefire despite launching more lethal bombardments in the territory.
Witnesses said Israeli planes carried out 10 air strikes in areas east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, while tanks shelled areas east of Gaza City in the north. No injuries or deaths were reported.
The Israeli military said it carried out ‘precise’ strikes against infrastructure that posed a threat to the troops in the areas, which Israel still occupies.
The strikes were the latest test of the fragile ceasefire that came into effect on October 10 in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“We’re scared that another war will break out, because we don’t want a war. We’ve suffered two years of displacement. We don’t know where to go or where to come,” said a displaced man, Fathi Al Najjar, in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
At the tent encampment where Najjar spoke, girls and boys were filling plastic bottles with water from metal containers placed on the side of the street, and women cooked food for their families using clay-made firewood ovens.
Under the ceasefire accord, Hamas released all living hostages in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and wartime detainees, while Israel pulled back its troops and agreed to halt its offensive.
Hamas also agreed to hand over the remains of all 28 dead hostages. It has returned 15 bodies, arguing that it will take time to locate and retrieve all of them.
The group’s armed wing announced that it would hand over two more bodies of hostages.
The recovery and handover of bodies of hostages in Gaza has been one of the obstacles to US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, with Israel claiming that Hamas has been delaying the handover, an accusation Hamas denies.
From Tuesday into Wednesday, Israel retaliated for the death of an Israeli soldier with bombardments that Gaza health authorities said killed 104 people.
Witnesses in Gaza said they did not see strikes yesterday outside of the area Israel controls.
Israel says the soldier was killed in an attack by gunmen on territory within the so-called ‘yellow line’ to which its troops withdrew under the ceasefire. Hamas has rejected the accusation.
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