The IDF attacked Gaza just hours after a ceasefire deal was announced, according to spokesman for the militant group
The military arm of Hamas has said that an airstrike by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Gaza that followed the announcement of a ceasefire deal had targeted a site where a female Israeli hostage was being held.
The agreement was announced on Wednesday by US President-elect Donald Trump nd subsequently confirmed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjmin Netanyah. It is expected to come into effect on January 19 and will include three phases, each of which will last 42 days.
Three female hostages are also expected to be released on Sunday, representing the first of 33, living and deceased, who were abducted on October 7 2022 by Hamas.
In a Telegram post on Thursday, Al-Qassam Brigades Military Spokesman Abu Ubaida claimed that the woman targeted in the Israeli strike was one of the hostages expected to be freed this week.
“Any aggression and shelling at this stage by the enemy could turn the freedom of a prisoner into a tragedy,” the spokesman stated.
Israel intensified its airstrikes across Gaza just hours after the ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced, killing at least 70 people overnight, according to the enclave’s health officials. The attacks came as people took to the streets to celebrate the truce, following 15 months of brutal warfare that has seen up to 64,000 Palestinians killed, according to research published in the Lancet.
The IDF told CNN on Thursday they had “conducted strikes on approximately 50 terror targets across the Gaza Strip” over the previous 234 hours, blaming Hamas for firing a rocket into Israel on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, Israel delayed a cabinet vote on the ceasefire deal, blaming Hamas for reneging on parts of the agreement. The militant group has rejected the claims.
Some media have attributed the failure to ratify the agreement to opposition from key parties in Israel’s governing coalition. The Religious Zionism Party and its leader, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have condemned the deal and threatened to quit if the Jewish state does not return to war after the first stage of the ceasefire.
The Israeli cabinet is set to meet on Friday, according to media reports.