Eurasia Press & News
Israel on Wednesday accused Hamas of breaching the US-backed ceasefire, after an explosive device blew up in southern Gaza, injuring an Israeli soldier.
It was the latest incident to threaten the tenuous truce that has held since October 10, as each side accuses the other of breaches.
The Israeli army said that “an explosive device was detonated against a military vehicle during operational activity aimed at dismantling terrorist infrastructure in the area of Rafah”.
“As a result, a combat officer was lightly injured and was evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment. His family has been notified,” it said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of continuing “to violate the ceasefire and President [Donald] Trump’s 20-point plan”.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said that “their ongoing and continuing public refusal to disarm is an ongoing flagrant violation, and again today their violent intentions and violations were confirmed” by the detonation of the improvised explosive device that wounded an Israeli soldier.
Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said on X that the blast was caused by bombs left behind by the Israeli army. He added that Hamas has informed the mediators of this.
Hamas later issued a statement saying it was committed to the terms of the ceasefire and accusing Israel of trying to stop this from progressing to the second phase through “continued attacks and repeated violations in the Gaza Strip”.
The statement was released after a Hamas delegation headed by Khalil Al Hayya met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara on Wednesday to discuss the ceasefire’s second phase.
Hamas said 60 per cent of the lorries permitted to enter Gaza carry commercial goods, while the amount of humanitarian aid entering the enclave was still short of meeting urgent needs. As a result, “the vast majority of our people are deprived of their basic needs for food, medicine, and tents,” said the militant group.
Meanwhile, an Israeli delegation met officials from mediating countries in Cairo and discussed efforts to return the remains of the last Israeli hostage still held in Gaza, the Prime Minister’s office said.
Under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, all but one of the 251 hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that caused the war have been released, alive or dead, in exchange for Palestinian detainees.
The second phase poses even bigger challenges: the posting of an international stabilisation force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.
The Israeli army has launched strikes in Gaza after previous alleged ceasefire breaches. On October 19, Israel said two soldiers were killed by Hamas fire and responded with strikes that killed more than 40 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
Hamas accuses the Israeli army of breaching the ceasefire by not allowing enough aid into the territory and continuing to strike civilians. Palestinian health officials say more 370 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce.
Last Friday, Israeli troops fired over the ceasefire line in northern Gaza, killing at least five Palestinians, including a baby, according to a local hospital that received the casualties.
