Israel killed at least 32 Palestinians in a wave of strikes in Gaza targeting Hamas operatives and infrastructure, stemming from what it said is blatant cease-fire violations by the terror group and putting the tenuous peace deal on shakier ground.
The Israel Defense Forces targeted four commanders in the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups in airstrikes overnight into Saturday, while also reportedly taking out a weapons depot, according to the Times of Israel.
“The terror organizations in the Strip systematically violate international law, while brutally exploiting civilian institutions and operating in the presence of the local population,” the IDF said in a statement, according to the outlet.
The strikes were reportedly in retaliation after eight Hamas gunmen emerged from an underground tunnel in Rafah on Friday, which the Israeli military claimed was a breach of the fragile cease-fire in Gaza. The IDF captured a top Hamas commander and killed three others in a clash with the terrorists.
One of the buildings targeted in Saturday’s attack was the Hamas-run Sheikh Radwan police station in Gaza City where 16 people, including Hamas police officers, were killed and an additional 15 were injured, the terror group’s interior ministry claimed.
Hamas claimed that it had recovered 32 bodies across Gaza Saturday morning, while also alleging that children, women and the elderly were killed in the Israeli strikes.
The group’s health ministry reported that roughly another 30 people were injured.
Israel did not report its own assessment of the casualties, according to The Times of Israel.
Regional neighbors Egypt and Qatar called out the Jewish state for “repeated violations” of the US-brokered truce, which was reached in October and has remained in place as the two sides attempt move into the second phase of the agreement.
“The State of Qatar expresses its strong condemnation of the repeated Israeli violations of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip … in a dangerous escalation that will inflame the situation and undermine regional and international efforts aimed at consolidating the truce,” Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.
The bloodshed rang out just one day before Israel is set to reopen the only crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which is one of the concessions outlined in the 20-point peace deal.
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The Strip is expected to see a massive influx of residents who sought refuge in neighboring Egypt during the two-year war in Gaza, following Hamas’ heinous Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks in Israel.
Palestinians attempting to enter or leave the Strip will have to be approved of by Egypt, the Times of Israel reported.
The next phase of the peace deal requires Hamas to disarm and for Israel to further withdraw from Gaza, while handing over peacekeeping duties to an international force.
Hamas terrorists have killed a total of four Israeli soldiers since the establishment of the truce.
