Israel launched a wave of deadly strikes and temporarily shut off aid in Gaza on Sunday, as the US-brokered ceasefire came under severe pressure.
The IDF said in a statement that terrorists had fired an anti-tank missile and gunfire that killed two Israeli troops working in Rafah on Sunday.
Retaliatory Israeli strikes killed at least 45 people in Gaza, according to local residents and health authorities.
A senior Egyptian official involved in the ceasefire negotiations said "round-the-clock" contacts were underway to de-escalate the situation. Donald Trump’s envoys to Israel, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are reportedly already on their way to Israel to try and shore up the ceasefire.
Hamas’s armed wing said that it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement in all of Gaza, adding that it was unaware of clashes in Rafah and that it had not been in contact with groups there since March.
An Israeli security official had said that the transfer of aid into Gaza had been halted following what he described as Hamas' blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.
But, after US pressure, another Israeli security official said that aid would resume on Monday.
Palestinians in Gaza heard explosions and gunfire in Rafah and witnesses also reported heavy gunfire from Israeli tanks in the eastern town of Abassan near Khan Younis, also in southern Gaza.
Israel’s hawkish far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called on Netanyahu to “order the IDF to fully resume combat in the Gaza Strip with maximum force”.
“The false illusions that Hamas will change its ways, or even adhere to the agreement it signed, are proving, as expected, to be dangerous to our security,” he wrote on X (Twitter). “The Nazi terrorist organization must be completely destroyed—and the sooner, the better.”
Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich echoed: “War!”
The government media office in Gaza said on Saturday that Israel had committed 47 violations after the ceasefire deal, leaving 38 dead and 143 wounded.
In a separate incident on Friday, “operatives” were said to have emerged from a tunnel in the Rafah area and opened fire on Israeli forces, according to the IDF. There were no reported injuries.
Hamas on Sunday rejected a statement from the US state department citing “credible reports” that the Palestinian group would imminently violate the ceasefire deal with Israel. Hamas said the allegations were false.
“The Hamas Movement rejects the allegations mentioned in the statement issued by the US state department and categorically denies the claims directed against it regarding an ‘imminent attack’ or a ‘violation of the ceasefire agreement’,” it said.
“These false allegations fully align with misleading Israeli propaganda and provide cover for the continuation of the occupation’s organised crimes and aggression against our people.”
Hamas accused Israel of forming, arming and funding criminal gangs that it said had “carried out killings, kidnappings, theft of aid trucks, and robberies against Palestinian civilians”.
The state department assessed in a short statement that Hamas was planning an “imminent” attack on civilians in Gaza, adding: “Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire.”
Donald Trump has threatened to disarm Hamas if it refused to do so voluntarily, after saying he was unbothered by Hamas killing members of “very bad gangs” in Gaza earlier in the week.
The ceasefire has been further strained by Hamas’s delayed return of hostages to Israel and Israel’s decision to keep the Rafah crossing shut to humanitarian aid.
Israel has threatened to keep the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed “until further notice”. Netanyahu’s office said reopening Rafah would depend on how Hamas fulfils its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages.
Hamas has returned all 20 live hostages and 12 of the deceased, but said the process needs effort and special equipment to recover corpses buried under rubble.
Israel identified the body of a deceased hostage on Sunday morning, after Hamas handed over two bodies of what the militant group said were deceased hostages to the Red Cross late on Saturday night.
Benjamin Netanyahu said the body was identified as Ronen Engel. The second body is still undergoing identification at Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Engel, 54, was killed during the October 7 attack on kibbutz Nir Oz on the Gaza border. His wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.
The IDF said on Sunday that another deceased hostage had been identified as Suntaya Akrasi.
Akrasti, a 30-year-old Thai citizen, was also killed during the October 7 attack, and his body was taken into Gaza. His body was taken from the orchards of kibbutz Be’eri, the IDF said.
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