Israel breaks ceasefire as Netanyahu orders renewed Gaza strikes

Tel Aviv: Breaking the ceasefire, Israel has once again turned Gaza into a killing field. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to carry out an “immediate and powerful attack” on Gaza. Al Jazeera reported intense gunfire and explosions in Rafah.

Netanyahu issued the new order citing Hamas’ delay in handing over the bodies of 13 remaining hostages. However, Hamas said Israel itself was blocking the entry of machines and expert teams sent to search for bodies trapped under the rubble. Following Netanyahu’s order for renewed attacks, Hamas postponed the handover of a hostage’s body that had been recovered from a tunnel in Gaza.

After two years of genocide that killed 68,527 people, a ceasefire was agreed on October 10 under international pressure during peace talks in Cairo mediated by the United States and Qatar. Palestinians, who had lost everything, had just begun returning to what remained of their shattered city. Meanwhile, Israel has killed more than a hundred Palestinians in violation of the ceasefire.

Mohammad Shehadeh, an expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Netanyahu had been seeking every opportunity to continue the genocide since the ceasefire began.