The Israeli army launched an offensive in Gaza as Hamas and Israel blamed each other for violating a ceasefire brokered by Washington, reports Reuters citing local media. Israeli public broadcaster Kan said the air force was targeting Rafah in southern Gaza. Most media outlets described the attack as airstrikes. Gaza health authorities said on Sunday that at least eight Palestinians had been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
The Israeli army said on Friday that “several terrorists” opened fire on soldiers in the Rafah area, but no one was injured. The army later said that on the same day it had attacked another “terrorist group” that had approached troops stationed in Khan Yunis. The army said in a statement that it would continue to take action to address any immediate threats.
Izzat Al Risheq, a senior Hamas official, said on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group remained committed to observing the ceasefire, while accusing Israel of repeated violations. Neither Al Risheq nor the Israelis made any mention of the reported Israeli attacks in Gaza. The Gaza government media center said on Saturday that
Israel committed 47 violations after the ceasefire agreement, leaving 38 dead and 143 wounded.
The Israeli government and Hamas have been accusing each other of violating the ceasefire for days, while Israel said the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would remain closed until further notice.
Hamas rejected the US State Department's statement on Sunday that its men wanted to harm Palestinian civilians. The US State Department said on Saturday that it had received"credible reports" that Hamas "wanted to attack Palestinian civilians." Therefore, Washington has notified the countries that guarantee the implementation of the Gaza peace agreement, the State Department added.
Israel on Sunday morning identified the bodies of two dead hostages that Hamas handed over to the International Red Cross the previous evening.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the bodies had been identified as Ronen Engel, a father of three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaja Oakkharasri, a Thai farm worker killed on Kibbutz Be'eri. Both were believed to have been killed in the October 7, 2023, terror attack and their bodies taken to the Gaza Strip. Engel's wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in November 2023 as part of the first ceasefire agreement.
Israel and Hamas have clashed several times since the ceasefire agreement over the return of the dead hostages. Israel has demanded that Hamas fulfill its obligations and hand over the bodies of all 28 remaining hostages. Hamas has returned all 20 living hostages and the 12 deceased, but said the process requires effort and specialized equipment to extract bodies buried under rubble.
Israel has resumed bombing in southern Gaza, breaking the ceasefire, after alleged violations by Hamas.
— AF Post (@AFpost) October 19, 2025
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for a resumption of fighting in the Gaza Strip at “full strength.”
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Still not “eternal peace”?
US President Donald Trump announced at a cabinet meeting held at the White House on October 9 that a significant breakthrough had occurred in the Middle East on Wednesday evening.
We ended the war in Gaza and actually created a much broader peace
– Trump said, adding that he hopes this will be a lasting, even “eternal peace”. The president said the remaining hostages would be released on Monday or Tuesday, which he called a day of joy. He said the hostages are in places you don’t want to be and that releasing them is a complicated process.
However, according to László Sárkány, a researcher at the Eurasia Center at the Neumann János University, not everything is clear. He told Index on October 11, that one of the most frequently asked questions after the ceasefire was announced was whether Israel would keep its promise. During discussions within the Israeli cabinet, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Szmotrics announced that he would “only support the Gaza ceasefire agreement until all the hostages are released.” For this reason, the joy over the ceasefire cannot be completely cloudless.
The development of the previous ceasefire agreement may also overshadow the prospects. The most recent ceasefire process consisted of three stages. The first stage aimed at another prisoner exchange, the second at a permanent ceasefire and the creation of a path to peace, and the third at the reconstruction of Gaza. At that time, after the hostage exchange, the process did not proceed to the second stage, and the war continued.
Trump has threatened before
The participation of the leaders of twenty countries at the peace summit in Egypt on Monday indicated the international weight and diplomatic significance of the meeting. László Sárkány highlighted: the fact that the Prime Minister of Hungary was not only invited to the event, but was personally invited by President Donald Trump himself and publicly praised him, clearly shows that our country has much greater geopolitical influence compared to its size.
The ceasefire, however, has been shaky from the start, as Hamas returned the 20 surviving hostages to Israel – in exchange for more than 2,000 Palestinian prisoners – but returned only two of the remains of the dead instead of 28, a move Israel interpreted as a breach of the agreement on Monday. Hamas says it does not know where all the remains are, so it has not yet been able to gather them for the hostage exchange.
US President Donald Trump said in a telephone interview with CNN on Wednesday that he would consider authorizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resume military operations in Gaza if Hamas does not abide by the terms of the ceasefire.
Israeli troops can return to the streets as soon as I tell them to. We will resolve Hamas-related issues quickly
Trump said briefly in the phone call.
The statement comes as Israel accuses Hamas of failing to fulfill its commitments under the ceasefire agreement , namely not handing over all live and deceased hostages. This is causing increasing tension in Israel, where the authorities have already informed the UN that they will reduce or delay humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, as Hamas has so far handed over only a few bodies of deceased hostages. However, the ceasefire has remained in effect for the time being, until now.
