The Israeli military conducted a wave of strikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and wounding others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, as Israel and Hamas pointed fingers at each other for violating an ongoing ceasefire.
Both sides agreed to the US-backed truce in mid-October, stopping more than two years of devastating war that killed tens of thousands in Gaza. Mediators, including the United States, Egypt and Qatar, are currently working to secure a complete end to the war, disarm Hamas, and begin rebuilding Gaza.
But violence has repeatedly flared up in the weeks since, killing hundreds of Palestinians and at least three Israeli soldiers.
On Saturday, Israel accused Hamas of sending an armed gunman to fire at Israeli soldiers deployed in Gaza. As part of the ceasefire, Israel pulled back its forces but remained in control of about half the enclave.
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In response, Israeli forces began striking in Gaza City and the central Gaza town of Nuseirat, killing at least 20 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Hamas said in a statement that Israel was repeatedly violating the ceasefire by continuing to attack in Gaza. It did not explicitly address Israel’s statement that Hamas had sent a gunman to attack Israeli forces.
“We call upon the mediators to intervene urgently and place pressure to immediately halt these violations, just as we are calling on the American government to uphold its commitments,” the Palestinian militant group said.
The Israeli government said five of those killed were “senior Hamas terrorists,” but did not give their names or positions. A Hamas spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether any of its fighters had been killed.
Israel and Hamas say they are committed to maintaining the ceasefire, but have accused each other of violating the truce. Mediators are rushing to shore up the ceasefire; this past week the UN Security Council endorsed a resolution calling for an international stabilization force to enter, demilitarise and govern Gaza.
The Israeli military said Gaza militants have opened fire on its soldiers several times, leading it to launch attacks across the enclave in retaliation.
Those strikes have killed more than 300 Palestinians, including children, since the ceasefire went into effect last month, according to Gaza health officials.
Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the ceasefire by refusing to open the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which Israeli officials had pledged to do as part of the truce. The Israeli government has said it will consider doing so based on whether Hamas returns the remaining three bodies of hostages still in Gaza, which it has yet to do.
Arab and US mediators have also been discussing yet another thorny problem threatening the truce: Scores of Palestinian fighters are still stuck in underground tunnels behind Israeli military lines, blocked from leaving by Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that it believed some of those fighters had clashed with its troops near the southern city of Rafah, adding that it had killed at least 11 militants it believed had likely left the tunnels in Rafah and sought to hide. – This article originally appeared in The New York Times
