 "Vance downplays Israeli strikes in Gaza, says ceasefire 'is holding'")
US Vice President JD Vance has said that the Gaza ceasefire is going on as planned despite Israeli strikes in the region, as Jerusalem and Hamas accused each other of violating the truce deal.
“The ceasefire is holding. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be little skirmishes here and there. We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an IDF soldier,” Vance said.
Israeli planes launched strikes in Gaza on Tuesday after Israel accused the militant group Hamas of violating a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
Local health authorities in Gaza have said that the latest Israeli strikes have killed 26 people, including five in a house hit in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, four in a building in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood, and five in a car in Khan Younis.
‘Powerful strikes’
While the Israeli military has not commented on the strikes yet, the Gaza attacks followed a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that ordered the IDF to “ carry out immediate and powerful strikes” in the region.
Netanyahu accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement, saying the renewed attacks were in response to what he described as repeated breaches by the militant group.
“Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the military to immediately carry out powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip," prime minister’s office said in a statement.
While the official statement did not specify the reason for the attacks, an Israeli military official said the strikes came in response to a Hamas attack against Israeli forces in an area of the enclave under Israeli control.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHamas stages fake recovery of hostage body
The main issue between Israel and Hamas remains the repatriation of dead hostages, which the latter is finding difficult under all the rubble in Gaza. Although Hamas has been returning the remains of dead hostages to Israel over the past few weeks, they have not been able to find all the bodies.
That anger deepened earlier in the day when the military released footage showing Hamas orchestrating a staged recovery of Ofir Tzarfati’s partial remains in eastern Gaza City, allegedly in the presence of the Red Cross, before handing them over on Monday night.
In response, the Red Cross issued a rare statement on Tuesday condemning Hamas for staging the recovery.
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