Israeli strikes kill more than 100 in Gaza as Trump says ceasefire ‘holding’
A night of heavy Israeli air strikes across Gaza has left at least 104 Palestinians dead, including 46 children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. More than 250 people were reported injured as explosions tore through homes and crowded neighbourhoods from Gaza City to Khan Younis.
The surge in violence came even as Donald Trump, United States president, insisted a Washington brokered ceasefire with Hamas remained intact.
“You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East and they have to behave,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew from Japan to South Korea. “Nothing is going to jeopardise the ceasefire. If they are good, they are going to be happy and if they are not good, they are going to be terminated. Their lives will be terminated.”
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The US president said he had been told an Israeli soldier was killed by sniper fire in Rafah in southern Gaza. “The Israelis hit back and they should hit back,” he said. “When that happens, they should hit back. It is retribution.”
Hamas denied responsibility for the reported attack and said it remained committed to the terms of the ceasefire. In a statement, the group said it had “no connection” to the incident involving Israeli forces.
Israel’s defence minister said Hamas had crossed “a bright red line” by killing the soldier and by “violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages”. “Hamas will pay many times over,” Israel Katz warned.
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Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel prime minister, ordered what his office described as “forceful strikes” on Gaza on Tuesday evening. In a brief statement, the Israel Defence Forces said it was hitting “dozens of terror targets and terrorists” and that at least 30 commanders of armed groups were among those targeted.
Witnesses in Gaza City described residential districts lit up by fireballs and choked by smoke. “We saw pillars of fire and smoke rising into the air as the explosions shook the buildings,” said a resident in the northern suburb of Beit Lahia.
Local civil defence teams said entire families were trapped under rubble. In southern Gaza City, three women and a man were pulled from the remains of the al Banna family home. In the Bureij refugee camp, five members of the Abu Sharar family were killed when their house was hit. A strike on a vehicle north west of Khan Younis killed another five people.
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“These documented crimes add to the long list of ongoing violations against our people,” the Palestinian Civil Defence said, calling for an “immediate and comprehensive ceasefire” across the Strip.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera that one strike hit a tent sheltering displaced families in Deir el Balah. Many residents were fleeing earlier fighting only to be caught in fresh bombardment.
As bodies were lined up outside hospitals and rescue workers dug through rubble, Trump maintained the ceasefire would hold.
For families in Gaza mourning their dead and searching for survivors, the language of agreements and enforcement offered little comfort.
