The raids on Tuesday marked the most significant flare-up in violence since a ceasefire brokered by United States President Donald Trump came into effect in the war-devastated territory on October 10.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, accused Israel of violating the truce and stressed it would postpone the planned handover of the body of a missing captive.
In a statement, it also warned that any Israeli escalation “will hinder search, digging, and retrieval operations of the bodies, which will lead to a delay in recovering the bodies” of the remaining 13 captives in Gaza.
In Washington, DC, US Vice President JD Vance insisted that the truce was still holding despite the attacks and the claims of violations by both sides.
“That doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be little skirmishes here and there,” Vance told reporters on Capitol Hill.
“We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an [Israeli] soldier. We expect the Israelis are going to respond, but I think the president’s peace is going to hold despite that.”
Hamas has denied any involvement in the attack in Rafah.
Gaza’s Government Media Office has reported that Israel has killed more than 100 Palestinians in attacks since the ceasefire came into effect, and is continuing to heavily restrict the flow of aid to those who desperately need it.
Hamas also called for an end to the Israeli attacks.
The continued Israeli bombing in Gaza “represents a flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement signed in Sharm el-Sheikh under the auspices of US President Trump”, it said on Telegram.
The group also added it remained committed to the deal.
The Qassam Brigades, after announcing the delay in the planned handover on Tuesday, also said it had recovered the bodies of two more Israeli captives, Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch, during search operations conducted on the day.
The development came after Netanyahu stated the remains handed over by Hamas on Monday were not from the 13 dead captives yet to be returned. Instead, he added they were those of a captive whose body had already been retrieved by Israeli forces nearly two years ago.
