Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he has ordered the Israeli military to carry out powerful strikes in Gaza immediately after Israeli forces came under fire from the Hamas terrorist group in the south of the enclave, according to a statement released by the prime minister's office.
"Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the military to carry out powerful airstrikes in the Gaza Strip," his office said in a statement.
The situation grew more tense after Hamas returned remains belonging to a hostage it had recovered earlier in the conflict. Netanyahu said Tuesday that the body parts returned overnight were partial remains of a hostage recovered in Gaza by Israeli troops nearly two years ago. The announcement, made by Netanyahu's office, threatened to deepen the instability of the fragile ceasefire agreement brokered by Washington.
Netanyahu described the return as a “clear violation” of the pact, which requires Hamas to return all remains of Israeli hostages as quickly as possible. As he considered possible responses, Israeli media reported that options under consideration included halting humanitarian aid flows to Gaza, expanding Israeli control over the enclave, or carrying out airstrikes against Hamas leaders.
The fragility of the ceasefire signed on October 10 was again evident when, according to an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, Israeli troops were fired upon in the city of Rafah and responded by opening fire, although there was no official announcement at the time.
Thirteen bodies of hostages remain in Gaza, officials said. Hamas said Tuesday it had located the body of another hostage it planned to hand over in the coming hours. An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis watched as several men, some of them masked militants, removed a white body bag from a tunnel and carried it to an ambulance, although the bag's contents could not immediately be determined.
The slow return of hostage bodies complicates the implementation of new phases of the ceasefire, which would address complex issues such as the disarmament of Hamas, the possible presence of an international security force in Gaza, and the determination of who will administer the territory in the future.
Hamas has said it is struggling to find the bodies amid the massive destruction in Gaza, while Israel maintains its accusation that the group is intentionally delaying the handover. The Associated Press reported that a specialized Egyptian team, along with heavy machinery, was deployed over the weekend to search for the remains of the outstanding hostages, efforts that continued Tuesday in Khan Yunis and Nuseirat.
Since the ceasefire began on October 10, this is the second time Hamas has encountered conflict over the return of remains. Israel reported that one of the bodies handed over during the first week belonged to an unidentified Palestinian. During a previous truce in February 2025, Hamas claimed to have returned the bodies of three hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two children; however, subsequent examinations determined that one of the remains belonged to a Palestinian woman, and Bibas's body was handed over a day later.
