The U.S. State Department said it had “credible reports” that Hamas was planning “imminent” attacks on civilians in Gaza, which would violate the ceasefire agreement.
A statement released Saturday said the planned attack on Palestinians would be a “direct and serious” violation of the ceasefire agreement and “undermine the important progress achieved through mediation efforts.”
The State Department did not provide further details about the attack and it was unclear which report it cited.
The first phase of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel is currently underway. All living hostages have been released and the bodies of the dead are still being repatriated to Israel.
As part of the agreement, Israel also released 250 Palestinian prisoners from prison and 1,718 people detained in the Gaza Strip.
The United States said it had already notified other guarantors of the Gaza peace deal, including Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, and had called on Hamas to maintain the terms of the ceasefire.
If Hamas continues its attacks, steps will be taken to protect Gaza residents and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire, it said.
Hamas has not yet commented on the statement.
US President Donald Trump previously warned Hamas of killing civilians.
“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza outside of the deal, we will have no choice but to go and kill them,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social earlier this week.
He later clarified that he would not send U.S. troops to Gaza.
Last week, BBC Verification authenticated a graphic video showing public executions by Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip.
The released video shows eight men with guns lining up with their arms tied behind their backs and killing them in a crowded square.
BBC Verification was unable to confirm the identities of the masked gunmen, but some appeared to be wearing green headbands associated with Hamas.
On Saturday, Israel said it had received two more bodies from the Gaza Strip that Hamas said were hostages but had not yet been officially identified.
The remains of 10 of the 28 hostages who died so far have been repatriated to Israel.
Separately, the Hamas-run Civil Defense Ministry said on Saturday that 11 members of a Palestinian family were killed by Israeli tank shells. The incident was the deadliest incident involving Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began.
The Israeli military said its soldiers opened fire on a “suspicious vehicle” that crossed the so-called yellow line that demarcates the area still occupied by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
There are no physical markings on this line and it is unclear whether the bus has crossed it. The BBC has asked the IDF for the coordinates of the incident.
The Israeli military began operations in Gaza on October 7, 2023, in response to an attack by Hamas-led gunmen that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in southern Israel.
At least 68,000 people have died in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, a figure the United Nations considers reliable.
Last September, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry found that Israel had massacred Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel flatly rejected the report as “distorted and false.”
