The Israeli military launched a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Saturday, an attack that local health officials said was the deadliest in weeks and that comes as the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was set to move into its next phase.
Zaher al-Waheidi, an official at the Gaza health ministry, said at least 26 people had been killed in the strikes.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the airstrikes were targeting commanders from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group.
The military said that the strikes were in response to an incident on Friday in which militants had emerged from a tunnel in Rafah, in an Israeli-controlled area in the south of Gaza. The Israeli military described the incident as “a violation of the cease-fire agreement.”
Hamas said in a statement that the “bombardment” in Gaza was a “flagrant violation of the cease-fire agreement.”
The strikes came before the expected reopening of a crucial land crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the coming days, a long-delayed part of the cease-fire agreed in October.
The opening of the border crossing, close to the city of Rafah, would allow Palestinians who had fled the two-year-long war between Israel and Hamas to return home for the first time.
As part of the cease-fire deal, Hamas released the remaining hostages held in Gaza in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, while the Israeli military withdrew to an agreed-upon line inside Gaza that left it in control of about half of the enclave. On Monday, Israeli forces recovered the body of the last Israeli captive held in Gaza, setting the stage for the cease-fire to advance to its next phase.
But there have been several outbreaks of violence in Gaza since the truce came into effect, with each side accusing the other of breaching the terms of the agreement.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health says that Israel has killed more than 500 people in Gaza since the truce was announced. The health ministry’s figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israel has said that its strikes in Gaza were in response to Hamas’ violations of the cease-fire, including attacks on Israeli troops.
Natan Odenheimer is a Times reporter in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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