Israel says it'll uphold Gaza ceasefire after airstrikes kill 104
What's the story
The Israeli military stated on Wednesday that it had "begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire" in Gaza after its airstrikes on Tuesday night killed at least 104 Palestinians, including 46 children and 20 women. The military said it had targeted "dozens of terror targets and terrorists" in response to alleged violations of a US-brokered ceasefire deal by Hamas. Israel's defense minister accused Hamas of breaching the agreement by attacking Israeli soldiers and failing to return deceased hostages' bodies.
Military response
Netanyahu orders 'forceful strikes' on Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening ordered "forceful strikes" on Gaza, though he didn't specify the reasons. However, his defense minister stated that Hamas had crossed "a bright red line" by attacking Israeli forces in Gaza on Tuesday. "Hamas will pay many times over for attacking the soldiers and for violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages," Israel Katz warned.
Denial and condemnation
Hamas denies attack, US President Trump comments
Hamas denied any connection to the attack on Israeli troops and condemned the Israeli strikes as a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire agreement. The group also delayed returning a hostage's body due to alleged Israeli violations. US President Donald Trump downplayed concerns of resumed hostilities, saying Israel should "hit back" when its soldiers are targeted but adding that nothing would jeopardize the ceasefire.
Ceasefire
Fragile ceasefire
However, Tuesday night's strike exposed all of the flaws in the truce that has been plagued by bloodshed from its announcement. Before the midnight attacks, Gaza's media office claimed Israel violated the truce 80 times since it began, killing 97 Palestinians and wounding 230. Under the ceasefire agreement, brokered by the US, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages within 72 hours of the ceasefire taking effect on October 10.
Peace efforts
Ceasefire plan
In exchange, Israel will hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for every Israeli. So far, Hamas has returned the remains of 15 hostages, leaving 13 bodies in the region. The terrorist group has stated that it does not know the exact location of all the victims, claiming that it has lost communication with many of its units who were keeping the hostages and were apparently killed during Israeli bombardments.