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22-10-2025
JERUSALEM/ CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Sunday a ceasefire in Gaza had resumed after an attack killed two of its soldiers and prompted a wave of airstrikes that Palestinians said killed 26 people, in the most serious test yet of this month’s US-brokered truce.
US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire he brokered was still in place.
US officials, Trump said, believe Hamas leadership may not be involved in the violations, which will be “handled toughly, but properly.”
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he said he did not know whether the Israeli strikes were justified. “I’d have to get back to you on that,” Trump said.
Aid into Gaza was set to resume on Monday following US pressure, an Israeli security source said, shortly after Israel announced a halt in supplies in response to what it said was a “blatant” violation by Hamas of the truce.
The Israeli military said it struck Hamas targets across the enclave, including field commanders, gunmen, a tunnel and weapons depots, after militants launched an anti-tank missile and fired on its troops, killing the soldiers.
The strikes killed at least 26 people, including at least one woman and one child, according to local residents and health authorities. At least one strike hit a former school sheltering displaced people in the area of Nuseirat, residents said.
“We’re going to have to see what’s happening. We want to make sure that it’s going to be very peaceful with Hamas,” Trump said.
Hamas members acting independently of the organization’s leaders may be responsible for antagonizing the Israelis, Trump said.
“They’ve been quite rambunctious, and they’ve been doing some shooting, and we think maybe the leadership isn’t involved, and then, you know, some rebels within, but either way it’s going to be handled properly,” he said.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected to travel to Israel on Monday, an Israeli official and a US official said.
The armed wing of Hamas said it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement, was unaware of clashes in Rafah, and had not been in contact with groups there since March.
US Vice President JD Vance did not mention the Israeli strikes when speaking to reporters, but said there were about 40 different cells of Hamas and no security infrastructure yet in place to confirm their disarmament.
“Some of those cells will probably honor the ceasefire. Many of those cells, as we saw some evidence of today, will not,” he said.
“Before we actually can ensure that Hamas is properly disarmed, that’s going to require … some of these Gulf Arab states, to get forces in there, to actually apply some law and order and security keeping on the ground.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to respond forcefully to what he described as Hamas’ violations of the ceasefire.
Fearing the truce may collapse, some Palestinians rushed to buy goods from a main market in Nuseirat and families fled their homes in Khan Younis further south, after airstrikes hit nearby.
The strikes were reminiscent of Israel’s response to what it viewed as serious violations of its ceasefire with Hamas’ Lebanese ally Hezbollah in late 2024, less than a week after it came into effect and after days of mutual accusations of truce breaches, though that ceasefire has since largely held.
But formidable obstacles remain in the way of a durable peace in Gaza, where a ceasefire collapsed in March after nearly two months of relative calm when Israel unleashed a barrage of airstrikes. (Int’l News Desk)
