Benjamin Netanyahu orders Israeli army to carry out 'powerful' strikes in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday ordered the military to carry out intense strikes on the Gaza Strip after accusing Hamas of violating the USbrokered ceasefireMinutes later Hamas said it would delay handing over the remains of another hostage under the terms of the truce deal over what it called Israels truce violationsFollowing security consultations Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the military to immediately carry out powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip a statement from the premiers office said without elaboratingThe Palestinian militant group had earlier said it would hand over another hostage body scheduled on Tuesday amid mounting Israeli pressure after Hamas returned only the partial remains of a previously recovered captiveWe will postpone the handover that was scheduled for today due to the occupations violations Hamass armed wing said in a statement adding that any Israeli escalation will hinder the search excavation and recovery of the bodiesHamas handed over late on Monday what it said was the 16th of 28 hostage bodies it had agreed to return under the ceasefire deal which came into effect on October 10But Israeli forensic examination determined Hamas had in fact handed over partial remains of a hostage whose body had already been brought back to Israel around two years ago according to Netanyahus officeIn returning only the partial remains of an already returned captive Netanyahus office and a campaign group representing hostage families accused Hamas of breaching the ceasefireNetanyahus office decried a clear violation of the agreement after identification procedures revealed the latest remains belonged to the fallen hostage Ofir Tzarfati who had been returned from the Gaza Strip in a military operation about two years agoNetanyahus latest instructions came after he held security consultations earlier in the dayIsraeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian later told journalists that in terms of consequences for Hamas nothing is off the table right now but all of this is in full coordination with the United States with US President Donald Trump and his teamBedrosian also accused Hamas of staging the discovery of Tzarfatis remainsI can confirm to you today that Hamas dug a hole in the ground yesterday placed the partial remains of Ofir inside of it covered it back up with dirt and handed it over to the Red Cross she saidThe Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged the government to take actionIn light of Hamass severe breach of the agreement last night the Israeli government cannot and must not ignore this and must act decisively against these violations the forum said accusing Hamas of knowing the location of the missing hostages Break its legs Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem rejected claims the group knows where the remaining bodies are arguing that Israels bombardment during the twoyear conflict had left locations unrecognisableThe movement is determined to hand over the bodies of the Israeli captives as soon as possible once they are located he told AFPHamas has already returned all 20 living hostages as agreed in the ceasefire dealHamas also accused Israel of ceasefire violations with the territorys health ministry saying that at least 94 people had been killed in Israeli fire since the truce beganOn the ground in Gaza 60yearold AbdulHayy alHajj Ahmed told AFP he was afraid the war would start again because of the mounting pressure on HamasNow they accuse Hamas of stalling and that is a pretext for renewed escalation and war he saidWe want to rest I believe the war will come backIsraels farright national security minister accused Hamas of stalling the release of the remaining bodiesIt is time to break its legs once and for all Itamar Ben Gvir wrote on X Third set of remains During their October 7 2023 attack on Israel Hamas militants took 251 people hostage most of whom had been released rescued or recovered before this months ceasefireThe attack itself resulted in the deaths of 1221 people on the Israeli side most of them civilians according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figuresIsraels subsequent assault on Gaza killed at least 68531 people according to figures from the Hamasrun territorys health ministry that the UN considers reliableDespite the ceasefire the toll has continued to climb as more bodies are found under the rubbleOfir Tzarfati was at the Nova music festival on October 7 when he was abducted into captivity where he was murdered the hostage forum saidIt added that this was the third time remains belonging to him had been returned after his body was recovered at the end of 2023 and additional remains were returned in March 2024This is the third time we have been forced to open Ofirs grave and rebury our son Tzarfatis family were quoted as saying in the statement from the forumThe circle supposedly closed back in December 2023 but it never truly closesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever