Israeli strikes killed at least 100 people across Gaza overnight, local health officials said, in what appeared to be the deadliest day since Israel and Hamas agreed on a cease-fire three weeks ago.
The strikes began late Tuesday after the Israeli government accused Hamas of violating the truce by failing to return the bodies of dead captives and by attacking Israeli forces in Rafah, southern Gaza. The Israeli military said one of its soldiers, Master Sgt. Yona Efraim, had been killed in the Rafah attack.
On Wednesday, the Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, said “dozens of Hamas commanders” had been killed in strikes overnight. The military said the cease-fire resumed at 10 a.m. local time.
Health officials in Gaza said the Israeli strikes had killed at least 100 people in the enclave and injured around 250 more.
Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s health ministry, whose data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, said 35 children were among those killed. He said hospitals in the enclave “are still facing a severe shortage of resources and a significant lack of medicines.”
Gaza’s Civil Defense emergency rescue service also said that at least 100 people had been killed.
President Trump said on Wednesday that he supported Israel’s strikes in Gaza, saying Israel “should hit back” when its soldiers were killed. But he said that “nothing is going to jeopardize” the cease-fire, which is based on a peace plan he proposed last month.
“Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One during a trip to South Korea. He added, “If they’re not good, they’re going to be terminated.”
In a statement, Hamas accused Israel of seeking to undermine the cease-fire and criticized the U.S. administration.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza on Wednesday, a New York Times reporter saw women weeping over the bodies of children. Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, an official there, said the hospital had received the bodies of 21 people killed in the strikes, including 13 children.
The strikes came after a week of escalating tensions over delays to the exchange of deceased captives between Israel and Hamas, a key plank of the fragile cease-fire deal that went into effect this month.
Tensions boiled over on Tuesday when gunmen in Gaza attacked a group of soldiers in Rafah, southern Gaza. The military said that militants had opened fire on Israeli troops who were dismantling a Hamas tunnel in an area under Israeli military control in eastern Gaza.
Also on Tuesday, the Israeli military released a drone video that it said showed that Hamas was trying “to create a false impression” about its efforts to locate deceased captives.
Hamas denied involvement in the Rafah attack. It has insisted it is acting in good faith to locate and return the remains of people it took from Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.
The drone footage showed what the Israeli military said were Hamas members faking the discovery of a deceased captive as observers from the Red Cross watched. The aid group said its staff was unaware that a body had been moved before their arrival. “It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged,” the Red Cross said in a statement.
When asked about the video on Tuesday, Hamas referred The Times to an earlier statement that accused Israel of creating false pretexts for military action.
After the Israeli government announced its decision to strike Gaza, David Mencer, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, cited both the shooting and the events depicted in the video as violations of the cease-fire.
Gabby Sobelman, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad Abu Bakr Bashir and Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting.
Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region.
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