35 killed, others injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza Strip

The Civil Defense in Gaza reported early Wednesday that at least 35 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured with varying degrees of wounds as a result of Israeli air raids that struck multiple locations across the enclave on Tuesday evening.

Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “the death toll from the occupation’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip has reached at least 35 martyrs and dozens of injuries, while our teams continue search and recovery operations to retrieve victims from under the rubble.”

In another field development, Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that it had found the bodies of two Israeli hostages inside the Gaza Strip. In a statement published on its Telegram channel Tuesday evening, the Brigades said they had managed to recover the two bodies, though it remains unclear whether they will be handed over to Israel in the coming hours.

The movement added in a separate statement that the handover of another hostage’s body had been postponed in protest of what it described as “the occupation’s violations.” It indicated that the body had been found during search operations inside a tunnel in the southern part of the Strip, affirming that the latest Israeli airstrikes were hindering search and handover efforts.

Israeli aircraft launched a series of raids on Gaza following Israel’s accusation that Hamas had violated the ceasefire in place for the past three weeks, under an agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump earlier this month.

According to eyewitnesses, the airstrikes continued until the early hours of dawn, targeting multiple areas across the Strip, while the Israeli army has not yet issued an official statement.

A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered “strong and immediate attacks,” without providing further details. Hebrew media outlets quoted a military source as saying that Hamas had breached the truce by attacking Israeli forces inside the Strip, describing the incident as “a blatant violation of the ceasefire.”

The US backed ceasefire agreement took effect on October 10, ending a two-year war that began following Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

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ANHA