Israel kills 20 in Gaza attacks, Hamas delays handover of captive’s remains

The Israeli military has killed at least 20 Palestinians in attacks across Gaza after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “powerful” strikes following an exchange of gunfire in southern Rafah, during which one Israeli soldier was wounded.

The attacks 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 said 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.
‘Mayhem, panic’
In Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera that the victims of Tuesday’s attacks included four people killed in a strike on a residential building in the Sabra neighbourhood of northern Gaza City, and five others in southern Khan Younis.