At least 50 people were killed overnight in Israeli air strikes on Gaza, the enclave’s civil defence agency said Wednesday, accusing Israel of violating the fragile ceasefire brokered earlier this month by United States President Donald Trump.
Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence, described the bombardment as “a clear and flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement,” saying the strikes targeted “tents for displaced people, homes, and the vicinity of a hospital.”
Among the dead, Bassal said, were 22 children, several women and elderly people, while around 200 others were wounded.
Hospitals across the territory reported receiving dozens of casualties. Al-Awda Hospital said it had taken in “several bodies, including those of four children,” after a bombing in Gaza’s central Nuseirat refugee camp. Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, said one strike hit its backyard.
“We had just started to breathe again, trying to rebuild our lives, when the bombardment came back,” said Khadija al-Husni, a displaced mother sheltering in a tent at Al-Shati refugee camp. “It’s a crime. Either there is a truce or a war — it can’t be both. The children couldn’t sleep; they thought the war was over.”
The Israeli military said it launched the strikes in response to an attack on its troops in southern Gaza that killed a soldier.
A military official identified the soldier as Yona Efraim Feldbaum, 37, who died in Rafah when an engineering vehicle was hit by “enemy fire.” The official said “several anti-tank missiles were fired at another armoured vehicle belonging to the troops in the area” shortly afterward.
Israel accused Hamas of orchestrating the attack in violation of the truce, but the Palestinian group denied involvement.
“Hamas fighters had no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah,” the group said in a statement, reaffirming its “commitment to the U.S.-backed ceasefire.”
Speaking aboard Air Force One during his tour of Asia, President Donald Trump defended Israel’s right to respond but insisted the ceasefire would hold.
“They killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back. And they should hit back,” Trump told reporters. “But nothing’s going to jeopardise the truce.”
The renewed hostilities have cast doubt on the fragile truce, already strained by disputes over the return of hostage bodies.
Hamas announced Tuesday it was delaying the handover of another hostage’s remains, saying Israeli “escalation will hinder the search, excavation and recovery of the bodies.”
Israel accused Hamas of breaching the ceasefire by failing to return the last remaining bodies of deceased hostages taken during the group’s October 7, 2023 attack, which killed 1,221 people, most of them civilians.
The dispute deepened earlier this week when Hamas handed over what it said were the remains of another hostage. Israeli authorities later said forensic tests revealed the remains belonged to a captive whose body had already been returned two years ago.
Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian accused Hamas of deception.
“Hamas dug a hole in the ground yesterday, placed the partial remains inside, covered it back up with dirt, and handed it over to the Red Cross,” Bedrosian told journalists.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged the Israeli government to “act decisively against these violations,” accusing Hamas of withholding information about the missing captives.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem dismissed the accusations, saying the destruction caused by Israel’s two-year-long war made recovery operations difficult.
“The movement is determined to hand over the bodies of the Israeli captives as soon as possible once they are located,” Qassem told AFP.
The Hamas-run health ministry says Israel’s military campaign, launched in response to the 2023 attack, has killed at least 68,531 Palestinians, a figure the United Nations regards as credible.
Despite the ceasefire, the toll continues to rise as rescue workers dig through rubble in densely populated areas.
“I expected the escalation and bombardment to resume because Israel always creates pretexts,” said Jalal Abbas, a 40-year-old resident of Gaza City. “Every day they threaten to bring back the war, using the issue of the bodies as an excuse.”
As dawn broke over Gaza on Wednesday, smoke still hung in the air above flattened homes and shattered hospitals, grim reminders of a war that, despite ceasefire promises, was yet to truly end.
