Tel Aviv, Oct 29, (dpa/GNA) – Israel’s military said on Wednesday, it would again observe the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, after carrying out a wave of deadly airstrikes, in response to an attack that killed one of its soldiers.
The health authority in Gaza, controlled by the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, reported 104 dead and more than 200 injured, since Israel began its attacks on Tuesday. Among them were 46 minors, it said.
The figures could not be independently confirmed, but if correct, it would represent the deadliest incident since a US-brokered ceasefire began on October 10.
The strikes followed an attack on Tuesday, in which one Israeli soldier was killed, and amid delays in the agreed handover of hostage remains.
Israel blamed Hamas for the ambush that killed the soldier in the southern city of Rafah, a claim the group denied.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had “renewed enforcement of the ceasefire” on orders from Israel’s political leadership, but warned it would continue to “respond firmly to any violation of it.”
Those targeted in the Israeli airstrikes included commanders and others, involved in the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, Israel said. The US had been informed about the attacks in advance, Israel said.
Furthering heightening tension, Hamas was accused by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Wednesday, of carrying out what it called an apparent “staged” exhumation of the remains of an Israeli hostage in the Gaza Strip.
The ICRC referred to a video released by the Israeli military on Tuesday.
The video, taken by a drone, purportedly shows Hamas removing body parts in a bag from a building. The bag is then dragged into a large hole, and mostly buried under dirt.
The individuals in the video are then seen uncovering the body bag in front of Red Cross representatives, as if the remains were a new discovery.
Separately, Hamas was accused of returning further remains of an Israeli hostage, that had already been buried, instead of the body of a hostage still missing.
The Israeli army attacked a target in the northern Gaza Strip, despite the renewed ceasefire.
The military said on Wednesday that “terrorist infrastructure” had been bombed in Beit Lahia. Weapons were stored there that were to be used for an imminent attack on Israeli soldiers, it said.
The information could not be independently verified.
GNA