Netanyahu orders "forceful attacks" on Gaza and resumes bombing

BarcelonaIsraeli warplanes fired several projectiles at Gaza City on Tuesday, and explosions were reported in various parts of the Strip, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to launch "forceful" attacks on the enclave immediately. According to witnesses on the ground who spoke to Reuters and Al Jazeera, attacks occurred in the north, in Rafah, and in Khan Yunis. While the prime minister's office statement did not specify the reasons for the attacks, the decision comes after Hamas handed over remains that did not match any of the 13 Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, a move Tel Aviv interpreted as a violation of the ceasefire agreement. Israel also links the resumption of the bombing to several attacks allegedly suffered by members of the Israeli military conducting operations near the city of Rafah. Tel Aviv accuses Hamas of having opened fire, with snipers and artillery, on members of its army this week. The Islamist militia denies that these attacks were carried out by its members.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has stated that "Hamas will pay a heavy price for attacking Israeli Defense Forces soldiers in Gaza" and for "violating the agreement for the repatriation of the deceased hostages." In a statement released by his ministry, Katz refers to the "artillery and sniper attacks" against his soldiers by "Hamas members" in Rafah. However, the Palestinian militia insisted that it has no connection to the attack against Israeli forces and asserted in a statement that it remains committed to the ceasefire.

"Israel must understand that we are committed to the agreement and they must stop falsely accusing us of violating it," said Suhail al-Hindi, one of the Hamas leaders, on Al Jazeera. However, following Netanyahu's announcement, the organization has backed down from handing over the remains of another hostage, which it had announced would happen this Tuesday at 8:00 p.m.

The assault on Israeli soldiers in Rafah and Netanyahu's immediate response are reminiscent of the incidents of October 19, when Gaza was subjected to a one-day lightning offensive by Israel. According to the White House, that attack was provoked by Hamas members acting independently, who surprised the Israeli army and killed two soldiers. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, that operation left more than 30 dead in the enclave after Israel dropped some 153 tons of bombs. Netanyahu has mentioned it in almost all his public appearances since then, as a way of emphasizing the cost of breaking the truce in place in the enclave since October 10.

The hostages, a trauma for Tel Aviv

The Israeli Prime Minister's office confirmed this morning that the remains handed over on Monday night by Hamas The remains do not belong to any of the hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip, but to another hostage whom the army found there in December 2023 and who has already been buried by his family. "After completing the identification process this morning, it has been discovered that the remains returned last night belong to the kidnapped Ofir Tzarfati, who was recovered from the Gaza Strip in a military operation approximately two years ago. The family has already been notified," the statement reads.

The erroneous handover has caused astonishment in Tel Aviv, where Netanyahu's government has called it a "clear violation of the ceasefire" and announced an emergency meeting of the security cabinet to discuss it. While the hardline ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, demanded punishment for Hamas, the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, called for a halt to the fighting. But voices within the government had already made it clear that Israel would react forcefully: "Hamas will pay a very high price for attacking soldiers in Gaza and for violating the agreement to return the hostages' bodies," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement after the meeting. Upon learning of Hamas's latest handover, the family of hostage Ofir Tzarfati—who was 27 years old when Hamas kidnapped and killed him in late 2023—issued a statement lamenting that they had been "deceived" again during the process of "sabotaging the agreement." "This is the third time we have been forced to open Ofir's grave and rebury our son. The circle was supposedly closed in December 2023, but it never truly closes," the statement reads.

The controversy surrounding the misidentification of the remains has been exacerbated by a video released by the Israeli army showing three men placing a white bag in an excavation and then covering it with soil. Israel accuses Hamas militants of planting Tzarfati's remains in a hole before calling a Red Cross team and pretending to have found a missing hostage, in order to create a "false impression of efforts to locate the bodies."

Difficulties in finding the bodies

Hamas has so far released 13 of the 28 hostages. to which it had committed as part of the exchange agreed with Israel for the ceasefireThe organization's spokesman, Hazem Qassem, told Reuters that finding all the bodies is proving challenging due to the scale of the destruction in Gaza, but that "Hamas will continue to do everything possible to hand over the remaining bodies [...] as soon as possible." During the negotiation process, the Islamist group warned of the difficulties it would face in finding the remains, both in terms of a lack of resources and personnel, and because of the terrain: the surface of Gaza is completely destroyed and covered in rubble, and the bodies are scattered throughout the enclave, where, for more than two years, Netanyahu's militants...

Because of these difficulties, the search efforts have been stalled for almost a week – Hamas has not handed over any remains since last Tuesday – but finally on Sunday Israel authorized Red Cross personnel and rescue services from EgyptThe agencies, which had long offered to enter Gaza to assist in the search for the hostages, were authorized to operate beyond the "yellow line," which marks the area where Israeli forces have withdrawn in this first phase of the ceasefire. In recent weeks, actors such as the United States have been putting considerable pressure on Hamas to hand over the remaining agencies in order to move forward with negotiations for the second phase of the agreement, which calls for the group's disarmament, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the establishment of an authority in Gaza. Gaza authorities, meanwhile, denounce Israel's ceasefire violations as systematic and blatant. According to records from the Hamas government's media office, Israel has committed more than 125 breaches since the decision came into effect, resulting in the deaths of 94 civilians. The uproar over the erroneous handover coincides with a hearing of Netanyahu in the court that is trying him for corruptionThe hearing, which had to be shortened due to an emergency security cabinet meeting, was scheduled to take place this morning in the Jerusalem District Court. The Israeli prime minister was to appear in a closed session to testify as a defendant accused of receiving preferential treatment from tycoon Arnon Milchan in exchange for gifts. However, the hearing was adjourned three hours earlier than planned.