Netanyahu Blows Up Ceasefire, Ordering 'Powerful Strikes' on Gaza

Following Israel's 125 reported violations of the October 10 Gaza ceasefire in attacks that have killed or wounded hundreds of Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday ordered "powerful strikes" in response to an alleged Hamas breach of the deal in which no one was physically harmed.

Netanyahu's office said the right-wing prime minister instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to immediately carry out the attacks on the flattened strip, where two years of genocidal war and siege have left at least 248,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, hundreds of thousands of others starving; and the vast majority of Gaza's more than 2 million people forcibly displaced.

Israel said the decision to escalate came after IDF invaders—none of whom were reportedly harmed—came under fire in southern Gaza, and amid Israeli anger over alleged Hamas subterfuge regarding the return of bodily remains from an Israeli hostage abducted during the October 7, 2023 attack.

Netanyahu's announcement also came on the same day that the prime minister appeared in a Jerusalem court to continue his testimony in his ongoing trial for alleged fraud, breach of trust, and bribery. His testimony was cut off three hours early due to unspecified "security developments." Critics, including relatives of hostages, have accused Netanyahu of unnecessarily prolonging the war in order to further delay his trial. The prime minister denies any wrongdoing.

Hamas said it would respond to Israel's escalation by delaying the handover of the remaining 13 dead hostages it either holds or is trying to locate. The armed resistance group, which governs Gaza, said Tuesday it had recovered the body of another hostage.

The Gaza Government Media Office responded to Israel's accusation of Hamas ceasefire violations by noting what it said are 125 incidents in which Israeli forces broke the truce, "resulting in the killing of 94 Palestinians and the injury of more than 344 others."

Israeli violations of the current ceasefire include several massacres, such as the October 18 bombing of a bus that killed at least 11 members of the Abu Shaaban family, who were trying to return to inspect their home in Gaza City. Among the victims were three women and seven children ages 5-13.

Israel was also accused of nearly 1,000 violations of the previous ceasefire earlier this year—breaches that officials said left at least 116 civilians dead and nearly 500 others wounded.

There has been scant reporting of Israeli ceasefire breaches in the US corporate media. In a glaring act of apparently selective inattention, the Associated Press on Tuesday called Netanyahu's strike order "a new test for the US-brokered ceasefire."