The Israeli armed forces carried out air strikes near the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip on Sunday following allegations that Hamas had broken the ceasefire agreement. This was reported by Israeli media.
The daily newspaper Jerusalem Post wrote that this was preceded by an attack by Palestinian militants who allegedly fired an anti-tank missile at Israeli engineering vehicles in the morning.
Neither the army nor Hamas immediately commented on the matter.
The Israeli army said on Friday that “several terrorists” had attacked its soldiers in the Rafah region, but without causing any injuries. It later announced that it had attacked a group of “terrorists” who were approaching soldiers in Khan Younis on the same day. It would continue its operations to eliminate immediate threats, the statement said.
The Jewish state and Hamas have been accusing each other of violating the ceasefire for several days, with Israel declaring that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed until further notice.
The main point of contention concerns the return of the bodies of the deceased hostages. Israel demanded that Hamas fulfill its obligations and hand over the bodies of all 28 hostages within 78 hours. Hamas has released all 20 living hostages, but has only returned the remains of 12 deceased hostages to Israel.
According to the militant movement, the process requires effort and special equipment to recover the bodies buried under the rubble. Hamas claims that it has still not been able to locate several bodies, with Turkish experts assisting in the search.
(reuters, sak)