The Israeli military on Sunday carried out attacks in Rafah and elsewhere in southern Gaza, according to Israeli news media outlets. Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 said that a phone call on the situation was taking place between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz and members of the army.
Israel’s public broadcaster said the strike followed an “exchange of fire" with Hamas members.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that war in Gaza will not be over until Hamas disarms and the Palestinian territory is demilitarised.
“When that is successfully completed — hopefully in an easy way, but if not, in a hard way — then the war will end," he said in an appearance on Israeli Channel 14 on Saturday.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority, said on Saturday that it had recovered the bodies of nine Palestinians, two men, three women and four children, after Israeli troops fired two tank shells at a bus.
The Israeli military said on Friday that “several terrorists" opened fire on soldiers in the Rafah area, causing no injuries. The military later said it struck another group of “terrorists" that were approaching troops in Khan Younis on the same day. The military would continue to operate to remove immediate threats, it said.
The Israeli government and Hamas have been accusing each other of violations of the ceasefire for days
Under a US-brokered ceasefire agreement, Hamas has returned all 20 surviving hostages and the remains of 12 deceased ones.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hamas was to hand over all of the hostages, dead and alive, before Monday at 0900 GMT.
Hamas has said it needs time and technical assistance to recover the remaining bodies from under Gaza’s rubble.
