Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to immediately carry out “forceful attacks in the Gaza Strip” after holding a meeting with his security cabinet, his office said in a statement.

The security cabinet meeting was called after Hamas returned to Israel the remains of a hostage, which, after forensic examination, were identified as belonging to a captive whose body had already been recovered in 2023.

Their decision comes shortly after Israeli troops were allegedly attacked in the southern part of the Palestinian enclave, in the Rafah area. Local sources have informed EFE of artillery attacks from Israeli tanks, as well as aerial bombardments, in the eastern area of Rafah.

On October 19, an alleged skirmish between members of a Hamas police unit and Israeli troops in Rafah led to a wave of bombings across the Strip that claimed the lives of more than 45 Gazans.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, has announced that it will postpone the handover of the body of a suspected hostage to Israel, scheduled for late Tuesday afternoon, due to Israeli"violations" of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian armed group had announced hours earlier that it would hand over the body through the Red Cross.