Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered strikes in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s violation of the ceasefire, an Israeli military official explained.
“Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu has directed the military to immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office said.
ABC News reports that Israel carried out the strikes due to a violation earlier this month. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said at the time: “The attack on IDF soldiers in Gaza today by the Hamas terrorist organization is crossing a bright red line to which the IDF will respond with great force.”
“Hamas will pay with compound interest for attacking the soldiers and violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages,” he added.
Hamas stated in response to the strikes that it will postpone the return of a hostage body. “We confirm that any Zionist escalation will hinder the search, excavation, and recovery of the bodies, which will lead to a delay in the occupation’s recovery of the bodies of its dead,” Hamas said, as per Axios.
On October 19, the IDF said terrorists “fired an anti-tank missile and gunfire toward IDF troops operating to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the Rafah area, in southern Gaza, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.”
“In response, the IDF has begun striking in the area to eliminate the threat and dismantle tunnel shafts and military structures used for terrorist activity,” the IDF added. “These terrorist actions constitute a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement, and the IDF will respond firmly.”
