”After security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the military to immediately carry out powerful attacks on the Gaza Strip”, said the Prime Minister's office in a statement on Tuesday evening.
The country's Defense Minister Israel Katz in turn announced that Hamas will ”pay a high price” for their ”attack on IDF soldiers”.
Israel's allegations concerned reports that Hamas opened fire on Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza. According to the allegations, the soldiers were fired upon with rocket-propelled grenades and handguns, which was responded to with artillery fire. Hamas denies having anything to do with the violence.
Hamas: Wants to maintain the ceasefire
A short while later, the civil defense in Gaza reported that at least five Palestinians had been killed in several Israeli air strikes.
The occupation forces have now bombed Gaza with at least three air raids despite the agreement on a ceasefire, said Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the authority, to AFP.
At the same time, Hamas stated that they intend to continue working to maintain the ceasefire.
Israel must realize that we intend to keep the agreement that has been made and they must stop falsely accusing us of violating it, said Suhail al-Hindi, who is a member of the movement's politburo, to the Qatar-based TV channel.
Despite the attacks, Washington stands firm that the ceasefire is still in effect.
”The President's peace”
"The ceasefire holds. It does not mean that there will not be small clashes. We know that Hamas or someone else has attacked an IDF soldier. We expect Israel to respond but I am of the opinion that the President's peace will be maintained", said Vance in a comment to Fox News late in the evening.
Benjamin Netanyahu had already earlier on Tuesday accused the terrorist-stamped movement of having violated the ceasefire when Israel claims that the remains handed over by Hamas on Monday belonged to a hostage whose body had already been repatriated.
Hamas says in a statement that they would have handed over more remains on Tuesday evening, but that this is being postponed due to Israel's attacks.
Clashes and attacks have occurred repeatedly since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on October 10.
