90 killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza, Hamas charged with murder of soldier

More than 90 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night, the Hamas-run civil defense agency and hospitals said.

Israel’s military said it had struck “dozens of terror targets and terrorists” in response to Hamas’ violation of a US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Israel’s defense minister accused Hamas of killing an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip and violating conditions for the repatriation of the bodies of dead hostages. Hamas said it had “nothing to do” with the attack and said it was committed to the deal.

US President Donald Trump said “nothing will jeopardize the ceasefire” and added that Israel must “strike back” if its soldiers are targeted.

Israeli attacks hit homes, schools and residential areas in Gaza City and Beit Lahia in the north of Gaza, Bureij and Nuseirat in the center and Khan Younis in the south.

Witnesses in Gaza City described seeing “pillars of fire and smoke” rising into the air as explosions shook several residential areas.

About 30 children were among the more than 90 dead across the territory, Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said in a statement.

He warned: “Teams are still working tirelessly to help people trapped beneath collapsed buildings and hospitals are overflowing with injured and seriously injured people due to the tragic circumstances and severe shortages of medical supplies and fuel.”

Three women and a man were rescued from the rubble of the al-Banna family home in the southern Gaza Strip’s Sabra district, the Civil Defense said.

In the city’s Bureij refugee camp, five members of the Abu Sharar family were killed in an attack at their home in the Block 7 area, it added.

Five more people were killed when the aircraft targeted a vehicle on a road northwest of Khan Yunis, according to the agency.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday morning it had “begun a new implementation of a ceasefire” after carrying out a series of attacks against “dozens of terrorist targets and terrorists”, including at least 30 militant group commanders.

He added, “The IDF will continue to maintain the ceasefire agreement and will respond sternly if it is violated.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement issued Tuesday evening that he had ordered the IDF to carry out a “strong offensive” against the Gaza Strip, but did not specify why.

But his defense minister said Hamas had crossed a “bright red line” by attacking Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

“Hamas will pay a multiple price for attacking the soldiers and violating the agreement to return fallen hostages,” Israel Katz warned.

On Wednesday morning, the IDF announced that reservist Sergeant Yona Efraim Feldbaum had died.

Military sources said the attack took place in the southern city of Rafah, “east of the yellow line” that demarcates Israeli-controlled territory within the Gaza Strip under a cease-fire agreement.

Sources said Sergeant Feldbaum was killed when one of the vehicles of the IDF engineering team dismantling an underground tunnel route in Rafah was set on fire by “local terrorists”.

“A few minutes later, several anti-tank missiles were fired at another armored personnel carrier belonging to another unit in the area. No injuries were reported,” he added.

Hamas denied in a statement that its fighters attacked Israeli forces and condemned the attack on Israel.

Hamas confirmed that it had nothing to do with the Rafah shooting and confirmed its commitment to implement the ceasefire agreement.

“The criminal bombing carried out by the fascist occupation forces (Israel) in the Gaza Strip is a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.”

Meanwhile, the group’s military wing said it would delay the repatriation of the hostage bodies recovered on Tuesday due to Israel’s “violations.”

The United States dismissed concerns that there could be a resumption of full-scale hostilities.

President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “My understanding is that they killed an Israeli soldier. So Israel fought back, and they should fight back.”

“Nothing will be done to jeopardize the ceasefire,” he said. “Hamas must understand that it is a very small part of peace in the Middle East and they must act.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Israel’s prime minister pledged to take unspecified “action” against Hamas after the group handed over a coffin containing human remains, none of which were among the 13 hostages still dead in the Gaza Strip, the previous day.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said forensic tests showed they belonged to Israeli hostage Ophir Charfati, whose body was recovered by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip in late 2023, a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement.

The IDF also released drone footage Monday showing Hamas operatives in the eastern Gaza Strip removing bodies from prepared structures and burying them nearby.

He added, “Soon after, the agents called a Red Cross representative and made a false show that they had found the body of a dead hostage.”

Hamas dismissed the “baseless claims” and accused Israel of “trying to fabricate false pretexts to prepare for new aggressive steps.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) later condemned what it called a “fake recovery,” saying it was present “in good faith” and “at the request of Hamas.”

“As you can see in the video, the ICRC team at this location was unaware that the deceased had been deployed there prior to their arrival. Normally, our role as neutral intermediaries does not include exhuming the bodies of deceased persons.

“Our team only observed what appeared to be the recovery of human remains without any prior knowledge of the circumstances.

“It is unacceptable that a sham recovery has taken place when so much is at stake for this agreement to be maintained and when so many families are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones.”

The ceasefire deal brokered by the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey is supposed to implement the first step in President Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan.

Hamas said it would return 48 hostages, alive and dead, within 72 hours after the ceasefire took effect on October 10.

On October 13, all 20 living Israeli hostages were released, in exchange for the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 Gaza detainees.

Israel has also so far handed over the bodies of 195 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of 13 Israeli hostages repatriated by Hamas and the bodies of two foreign hostages, a Thai and a Nepalese.

Of the dead who still remain in the Gaza Strip, 11 are Israelis, 1 is Tanzanian, and 1 is Thai.

On Saturday, Hamas’ chief negotiator, Khalil al-Haiya, said Hamas was facing a challenge because Israeli forces had “changed the landscape of Gaza.” He also said, “Some of those who buried the bodies were martyred or no longer remember where they buried their bodies.”

However, the Israeli government claims that Hamas knows the locations of all the bodies.

All but one of the hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people kidnapped when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and about 1,200 people were killed during that period.

Israel responded by launching a military operation in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 68,530 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.