Israel bombs northern Gaza after saying it was maintaining the truce
Tel Aviv maintains that the ceasefire is holding even though it has killed more than 100 Palestinians in attacks over the past 24 hours
BarcelonaThe Israeli army announced a new attack on northern Gaza on Wednesday, where explosions were heard. The new bombing, specifically targeting the Beit Lahia area in the north, comes shortly after Israel said the ceasefire in Gaza remains in effect, despite the bombings that Benjamin Netanyahu ordered to be launched throughout the Gaza Strip yesterday, TuesdayThe attacks have left at least 109 Palestinians dead, including at least 52 children, according to counts from hospitals in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Civil Defense. At least two people were killed in the attack on Beit Lahia, according to Al Jazeera. The Israeli army said it attacked a "storage facility for land and air weapons that posed an immediate threat to the area." On Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister ordered the Israeli army to carry out "forceful" attacks on the enclave immediately due to alleged ceasefire violations by Hamas. The bombings continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning, until around 9:00 a.m. when the Israeli army announced that, "after a series of attacks that hit dozens of terrorist targets," it was reinstating the ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel accuses the Islamist group of handing over remains that did not match any of the 13 Israeli hostages, all deceased, still in Gaza. This accusation is compounded by the fact that Hamas killed an Israeli soldier in an exchange of fire allegedly initiated by Hamas militants, using snipers and artillery, in the southern Gaza Strip, near Rafah. The Islamist group, however, denies that its members carried out these attacks.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz escalated his rhetoric on Tuesday after a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet, stating that Hamas would pay "a heavy price for attacking Israeli Defense Forces soldiers in Gaza" and for "violating the agreement." Shortly afterward, Israeli aircraft began shelling the enclave.
The episode is reminiscent of the events of October 19, when Gaza was subjected to a one-day lightning offensive by Israel. According to the White House, that attack was allegedly provoked by Hamas members acting independently, who surprised the Israeli army and caused the deaths of two soldiers.
"Nothing will jeopardize the ceasefire"
Despite the attacks, Donald Trump insists that the truce he himself brokered remains in effect. "From what I understand, [Hamas militants] killed an Israeli soldier," the US president said from Air Force One while en route to South Korea. "So the Israelis retaliated, and they should continue to retaliate. When something like this happens, they should retaliate." According to the president, "nothing will jeopardize" the ceasefire, since "Hamas is a very small part of the peace in the Middle East, and it should get along." Meanwhile, both Israel and Hamas blame each other for violating the ceasefire while simultaneously feigning commitment to the agreement. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein has accused Hamas of "constant ceasefire violations" to avoid reaching the phase of the plan in which the Islamist group's disarmament is to be addressed. "I want to be very clear: Israel is committed to the Trump plan. The only problem is that Hamas isn't because it doesn't want the plan to move forward in order to avoid disarmament," Marmorstein said.
Meanwhile, Gaza authorities accuse Israel of violating the ceasefire at least 125 times with constant attacks throughout the Strip. And Hamas insisted on upholding the agreement even during the attack: "Israel must understand that we are committed to the agreement and must stop falsely accusing us of violating it," Suhail al-Hindi, one of the organization's leaders, told Al Jazeera. After the attacks, Hamas announced it was postponing the release of more hostage remains.
White House green light?
Given the surprising diplomatic silence—which Hamas has been quick to criticize—the question lingers as to whether the wave of bombings on the Gaza Strip received the green light from the White House. Since the ceasefire came into effect, Netanyahu has faced internal pressure, especially from the more hardline voices in his government, who accuse him of being Donald Trump's lapdog, forcing him to adhere to the plan proposed by Washington and accept the partial withdrawal of troops from Gaza. Some analysts believe that Tuesday's deadly attacks could be a strategy by the Israeli prime minister to demonstrate domestically that he is the one in charge. Furthermore, Trump's statements suggest that the United States authorized the Israeli bombings by invoking Tel Aviv's right "to retaliate," with the understanding that once its troops had responded, the ceasefire would remain in effect. This strategy would give Netanyahu carte blanche to quell criticism of his administration without interfering with what, for the moment, is Trump's biggest victory on the international stage.