Netanyahu orders "forceful attacks" in Gaza and resumes bombing

BarcelonaIsraeli aircraft fired several shells at Gaza City on Tuesday, and explosions were reported at several locations in the Strip, after Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli army to carry out "sweeping" attacks on the enclave immediately. According to witnesses on the ground, attacks took place in the north, in Rafah, and in Khan Yunis. While the statement from the prime minister's office did not specify the motives behind the attacks, the decision comes after Hamas handed over remains that did not match any of the 13 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, a gesture that Tel Aviv interpreted as a violation of the ceasefire agreement. Israel also linked the resumption of bombing to several attacks reportedly suffered by members of Israeli troops 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 its members carried out these attacks.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that "Hamas will pay a heavy price for attacking IDF soldiers in Gaza" and for "violating the agreement on the repatriation of the deceased hostages." In a statement released by his ministry, Katz referred to the "artillery and sniper attacks" against its soldiers by "Hamas members" in Rafah. However, the Palestinian militia insisted that it had no connection with the attack on Israeli forces and assured 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," Suhail al-Hindi, a Hamas leader, told Al Jazeera. However, following Netanyahu's announcement, the organization has backtracked on the release of the remains of another hostage, which it had announced for this Tuesday at 8 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, this attack was carried out by Hamas members acting on their own and surprised the Israeli army, resulting in the deaths of two soldiers. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, this operation left more than 30 fatalities in the enclave, after Israel dropped some 153 tons of bombs. Netanyahu has reiterated this in almost all of his public appearances since then, as a way of underscoring the cost of breaking the truce in force in the enclave since October 10.

Hostages, trauma for Tel-Aviv

The Israeli Prime Minister's office confirmed this morning that the remains handed over on Monday night by Hamas They do not belong to any of the remaining hostages in the Strip, but to another hostage the army found in the Strip in December 2023 and who was already buried by the 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 said.

The erroneous delivery 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 ultra-right ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, called for punishing Hamas, the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, called for not resuming the fighting. But government sources had already made it clear that Israel would react strongly: "Hamas will pay a heavy price for attacking soldiers in Gaza and for violating the agreement to return the bodies of the hostages," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement after the meeting.

Upon learning of Hamas's latest surrender, the family of hostage Ofir Tzarfati—who was 27 years old when Hamas kidnapped and killed him in late 2023—issued a statement lamenting having been "deceived" again during its attempt to "sabotage 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 is never completely closed," the statement reads.

The controversy over the misidentification of the remains has been exacerbated by a video released by the Israeli military showing three men placing a white bag in a hole and then covering it with soil. Israel accuses Hamas militants of planting Tzarfati's remains in a hole before calling in 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 handed over 13 hostages out of 28 to which it had committed as part of the exchange agreed with Israel for the ceasefire. The organization's spokesman, Hazem Qassem, told Reuters that finding all the bodies is a challenge 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 the lack of resources and personnel, and the conditions 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 militiamen.

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 Egyptian rescue services, who had long offered to enter Gaza to assist in the search for the hostages. The authorization also allowed these bodies to work beyond the "yellow line," which marks the area where Israeli army 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 bodies in order to advance negotiations on the second phase of the agreement, which calls for the group's disarmament, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the creation of an authority in Gaza.

Gaza authorities, on the other hand, denounce that Israel's violations of the ceasefire are systematic and flagrant. According to records from Hamas's government communications office, Israel has committed more than 125 violations since the decision went into effect, resulting in the deaths of 94 civilians.

The uproar over the erroneous handover coincides with a hearing by Netanyahu in court for corruption, which had to be cut short due to the emergency meeting of the security cabinet. The Israeli prime minister was scheduled to appear this morning in the Jerusalem District Court in a closed-door session to testify as a defendant accused of having received preferential treatment from tycoon Arnon Milchan in exchange for gifts. However, the hearing was interrupted three hours before the scheduled date.