At least 104 Palestinians lost their lives in a series of Israeli air raids across Gaza on Tuesday night, according to figures released by the territory’s Hamas-controlled health authorities.
The Israeli military said it targeted “dozens of terror targets and terrorists” in retaliation for what it described as violations by Hamas of the US-brokered truce agreement.
Israel’s defence minister accused the militant group of carrying out a deadly attack in Gaza that killed one Israeli soldier and of breaching the terms related to returning the bodies of deceased hostages. Hamas countered the accusation, insisting it had “no connection” to the attack and claiming Israel was attempting to sabotage the truce.
US President Donald Trump stated that “nothing” would threaten the ceasefire but added that Israel had every right to “hit back” when its forces came under attack.
The air raids reportedly struck residential buildings, schools, and homes across Gaza City and Beit Lahia in the north, as well as Bureij, Nuseirat, and Khan Younis further south.
Witnesses in Gaza City said they saw “pillars of fire and smoke” filling the sky as explosions ripped through multiple neighbourhoods.
Health officials in Gaza reported that the attacks killed 104 people, including 46 children and 20 women, while over 250 others sustained injuries.
According to emergency responders, three women and one man were recovered from the debris of the al-Banna family’s home in the Sabra area of southern Gaza City.
In the Bureij refugee camp, five members of the Abu Sharar family were also confirmed dead after their home in the Block 7 district was struck.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, grieving relatives gathered over the bodies of a mother, Bayan al-Shawaf, and her four children, who were killed in an airstrike that hit a tent sheltering displaced people in al-Mawasi.
“What kind of world is this? Is this the ceasefire?” asked Bayan’s cousin, Umm Mohammed. “They [the children] were sleeping. They were wanting to learn.”
By Wednesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces announced that it had “begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire” after conducting air operations on what it called “dozens of terror targets and terrorists,” including over 30 militant commanders.
“The IDF will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it,” it added.
A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office confirmed he had ordered “forceful strikes” on Gaza, though it did not give further explanation.
Meanwhile, the defence minister accused Hamas of crossing “a bright red line” after launching an assault on Israeli troops inside Gaza.
“Hamas will pay many times over for attacking the soldiers and for violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages,” Israel Katz warned.
On Wednesday, the military confirmed that one reservist, Master Sergeant Yona Efraim Feldbaum, had died in the incident.
A military source said the attack occurred near Rafah, on the Israeli-controlled side of the “Yellow Line,” the boundary separating IDF-held zones within Gaza under the ceasefire arrangement.
Sgt Feldbaum died after an IDF engineering vehicle working to dismantle a tunnel route came under fire from “terrorists in the area,” the source reported.
“A few minutes later, several anti-tank missiles were fired at another armoured vehicle belonging to the troops in the area. No injuries were reported,” they added.
Hamas reiterated that it had “no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah.”
The group later affirmed its commitment to the truce, accusing Israel of attempting to undermine it through renewed air raids.
US officials downplayed fears of a total breakdown in the ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, President Trump said: “As I understand it, they took out, they killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back.”
“Nothing is going to jeopardise” the ceasefire, he said. “You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel’s prime minister vowed to take unspecified “steps” against Hamas after the group delivered a coffin containing human remains that did not belong to any of the 13 deceased hostages still held in Gaza.
According to his office, forensic testing confirmed the remains were those of Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli hostage whose body had already been recovered in late 2023—an act the government described as a “clear violation” of the ceasefire terms.
The IDF also released drone footage allegedly showing Hamas operatives “removing body remains from a structure that had been prepared in advance and burying them nearby” in eastern Gaza City on Monday.
“Shortly afterwards,” the statement continued, the operatives “summoned representatives of the Red Cross and staged a false display of discovering a deceased hostage’s body.”
Hamas dismissed the accusation as “baseless allegations,” accusing Israel of “seeking to fabricate false pretexts in preparation for taking new aggressive steps.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) later denounced what it called the “fake recovery,” saying its personnel were present “at the request of Hamas” and acted “in good faith.”
It added: “The ICRC team at this location were not aware that a deceased person had been placed there prior to their arrival, as seen in the footage – in general, our role as neutral intermediary does not include unearthing of the bodies of the deceased.
“Our team only observed what appeared to be the recovery of remains without prior knowledge of the circumstances leading up to it.
“It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged, when so much depends on this agreement being upheld and when so many families are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones.”
The ceasefire agreement, facilitated by the US, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, forms the initial stage of Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace initiative.
Under the accord, Hamas agreed to return 48 living and deceased hostages within 72 hours after the ceasefire began on October 10.
By October 13, all 20 surviving Israeli hostages had been freed in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
In addition, Israel has transferred the bodies of 195 Palestinians in return for the 13 Israeli hostages’ remains handed over by Hamas, along with the bodies of two foreign nationals—one Thai and one Nepalese.
Of the deceased hostages still in Gaza, eleven are Israeli, one is Tanzanian, and one is Thai.
Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya stated on Saturday that the group was struggling to locate all the bodies because Israeli operations had “altered the terrain of Gaza.” He added that “some of those who buried the bodies have been martyred or no longer remember where they buried them.”
Israel, however, maintains that Hamas is fully aware of the locations of all the remains.
While the agreement appeared to allow flexibility if not all bodies could be returned within the original timeframe, Trump warned Hamas on Saturday that it must deliver those remaining “quickly, or the other countries involved in this great peace will take action.”
All but one of the hostages still unreturned were among the 251 people abducted during Hamas’s assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which left roughly 1,200 people dead.
Israel launched a massive military response in Gaza that has since resulted in the deaths of more than 68,600 people, including over 200 since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s health officials.
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