By Jana Choukeir, Emily Rose and Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it would abide by a ceasefire accord in Gaza, as health officials in the enclave said airstrikes had killed 104 people, with both Israel and Hamas trading blame for violations of the deal.
Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza late on Tuesday, saying it acted after an attack by Palestinian militants killed one soldier, in the latest challenge to an already fragile ceasefire.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it would continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and would respond firmly to “any violation”.
AIRSTRIKES TARGETED HAMAS COMMANDER, ISRAEL SAYS
In a separate statement, the military said it had targeted dozens of Hamas militants across the enclave, as well as weapons depots and tunnels belonging to the group. It named five militants, including a Hamas commander, who it said took part in an attack on an Israeli kibbutz during the October 7, 2023 assault that triggered the war.
The Gaza health ministry said that 46 children and 20 women were among the 104 people killed in Israeli airstrikes since Tuesday. Reuters couldn’t immediately verify the numbers, but Reuters video showed several bodies of women and children inside a hospital during funeral processions.
Despite the bombardments, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S.-backed ceasefire was not at risk.
“As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back,” he added.
The Israeli military confirmed the soldier’s death on Wednesday.
“Nothing is going to jeopardize” the ceasefire, Trump said. “You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”
ISRAEL SAYS HAMAS ATTACKED SOLDIERS WITHIN ‘YELLOW LINE’
Some displaced Palestinians feared the truce was falling apart. Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three children, recalled the sounds of explosions throughout the night, a reminder of a war that has killed tens of thousands.
“It was one of the worst nights since the ceasefire was signed. The sounds of explosions and planes made us feel as if war had started again,” Zayda, who lives in tents in western Gaza City with his 25-member family, told Reuters via a chat app.
An Israeli military official said Hamas had violated the ceasefire by carrying out an attack against Israeli forces who were stationed within the so-called “yellow line”, the deployment line agreed upon in the ceasefire.
Hamas denied responsibility for the attack on Israeli forces in Rafah, in southern Gaza, and said in a statement that it remained committed to the ceasefire deal, which went into effect on October 10.
ACCORD INVOLVES RETURN OF HOSTAGE REMAINS
Under the accord, Hamas released all living hostages in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and wartime detainees, while Israel pulled back its troops and halted its offensive.
Hamas also agreed to hand over the remains of all dead hostages yet to be recovered, but has said that it will take time to locate and retrieve all of the bodies. Israel says the militant group can access the remains of most of the hostages.
The issue has become one of the main sticking points in the ceasefire, which Trump says he is watching closely.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said human remains handed over on Monday night belonged to an Israeli killed during Hamas’ October 7 attack, whose body was recovered by Israeli forces in the early weeks of fighting.
The Israeli military said that Hamas had planted the remains at an excavation site before calling in a Red Cross team and pretending it had found a missing hostage, to create a “false impression of efforts to locate bodies”.
A 14-minute video published by the military showed three men placing a white bag at an excavation site and then covering it with earth and rocks.
Reuters was able to independently confirm the location of the video, but was unable to verify the date of the video or Israel’s account of what the video showed.
Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ICRC said its team was unaware that the remains had been planted at the site before their arrival.
“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 ICRC said in a statement.
(Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt Kanishka Singh, Maayan Lubell, Marine DelRue, Eleanor Whalley; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Michael Perry, Sharon Singleton, Aidan Lewis)
