At least two people were killed and four others wounded on Tuesday after an Israeli strike in the Sabra neighborhood south of Gaza City, Gaza’s civil defense said.
Israeli jets launched strikes on Gaza City after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of violating a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory. He ordered the Israeli army to carry out “powerful attacks.”
“Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the military to immediately carry out powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” a statement from his office said.
The development came after the Israeli military accused Hamas of organizing its search for the remains of a Gaza captive’s body, one of 28 the group had agreed to hand over under a ceasefire deal.
“Yesterday (Monday) it was documented that Hamas operatives removed remains of bodies from a structure that had been prepared in advance and buried them nearby,” the military said in a statement, attaching drone images that it said showed the act.
Aerial footage shows three people emerging from a damaged building in Gaza holding what could be a body wrapped in a white sheet. The individuals then bury the body moments before it is discovered again by a bulldozer parked nearby.
“The terrorist organization Hamas summoned representatives of the Red Cross and staged a false display of discovering the body of a deceased hostage,” the military statement said.
In the video three people appear in red vests, who AFP could not independently verify. The military did not specify the location of the footage, which was filmed on Monday.
“These images clearly show that the terrorist organization Hamas is attempting to create a false impression of efforts to locate the bodies, when in fact it is holding deceased hostages whose remains it refuses to release as required by the agreement,” the statement said.
The statement came as Israel accused Hamas of violating the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire.
Hamas handed over what it said was the body of a 16th captive on Monday, but Israeli forensic examination determined that Hamas had actually handed over partial remains of Ofir Tzarfati, whose body had already been returned to Israel about two years ago, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
“I can confirm to you today that Hamas dug a hole in the ground yesterday, placed Ophir’s partial remains inside it, covered it again with dirt and handed it over to the Red Cross,” government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian told reporters on Tuesday.
Hamas says it is committed to the terms of the ceasefire, but lacks the equipment necessary to locate and excavate the bodies of captives, potentially buried under buildings collapsed by airstrikes.
Tuesday’s army statement said the equipment Hamas requested was “clearly unnecessary for the transfer of remains and therefore these claims do not constitute an obstacle to the return of the remaining deceased hostages.”
Hamas said it was Israel that prevented it from carrying out its search for bodies and accused it of making “false pretexts in preparation for taking new aggressive measures against our people.”
