Gaza: Intense Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip in the past 12 hours have killed at least 100 Palestinians, among them 35 children, in a sharp escalation that further strains the fragile ceasefire deal brokered earlier this month by US President Donald Trump.
The strikes were unleashed shortly after Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “immediate, powerful” retaliation following reports that Hamas targeted Israeli troops in Rafah in southern Gaza.
Israel says the alleged Rafah attack by Hamas broke the ceasefire framework, justifying its response. Hamas vehemently denied responsibility. The group claims Israel is exploiting the incident to deliberately violate the agreement and “make it fail”.
Earlier, Hamas also accused Israel of ’systematically obstructing’ the recovery and transfer of hostage remains — an obligation under the truce deal. Moreover, the continued closure by Israel of the key Rafah crossing, Gaza’s lifeline to Egypt, has prompted fresh accusations from Hamas that Israel is refusing to honour its commitments.
The ceasefire deal, brokered in Egypt earlier this month under the aegis of US president Donald Trump and part of a broader 20-point roadmap, was always fragile.
According to Rob Geist Pinfold of King’s College London, the situation has devolved into a “game of chicken”: both sides testing boundaries, waiting for the other to break it first.
Pinfold told the Al-Jazeera network that Israel, which still holds direct control over more than half of Gaza and indirect control beyond that, was behaving like it did in southern Lebanon: a nominal ceasefire, but with unilateral strike capability and ongoing occupation. To many Palestinians in Gaza, this looks less like a peace plan and more like an indefinite, prolonged occupation with no end in sight.
