Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to carry out intense strikes on the war-devastated Gaza Strip, after accusing Hamas of violating the United States-brokered ceasefire.

A statement from his office said, “Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the military to immediately carry out powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip.”

Earlier, Netanyahu said Hamas had committed a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza by returning remains belonging to a previously recovered captive.

Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and several key Arab and Muslim nations, who added their considerable diplomatic weight to the deal, have accused Israel of multiple violations of the agreement over the last nearly three weeks.

Dozens have been killed in Gaza and Israel is continuing to heavily restrict the flow of aid to those who desperately need it.

The latest development has threatened an already-straining ceasefire agreement and sparked fears of a return to war on Gaza’s bombarded and besieged population.

The ceasefire that began on October 10 has largely held despite at least two previous flare-ups in violence. On October 19, 2025, Israel said that two Israeli soldiers were killed by Hamas fire.

Israel responded with a series of strikes that killed over 40 Palestinians, according to local health officials and over the weekend, Israel carried out an airstrike against what it said were Islamic Jihad militants planning an attack, wounding several people.

Muhammad Shehada, an analyst with the European Council on Foreign Relations based in Copenhagen, opined that since the beginning of the current truce between Israel and Hamas, Netanyahu has been carrying out provocative acts meant to strain the agreement. “Netanyahu, from the very start of the ceasefire, has been trying to find any trick possible to resume the genocide in Gaza,” Shehada said.

Hamas Postpones Handover Of Hostage Bodies

Hamas’s military wing announced that it now will postpone the handover of the Israeli captive’s body that it found earlier today “due to violations” by Israel.

In a statement, Qassam Brigades stressed that any Israeli escalation “will hinder search, digging, and retrieval operations of the bodies, which will lead to a delay in recovering the bodies” of the dead captives.

The latest remains handed over by Hamas earlier were not from the 13 dead captives yet to be returned, according to Netanyahu. Instead, he said that they were those of a captive whose body had already been retrieved by Israeli forces nearly two years ago.

Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet has called for harsh measures in response, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urging the re-arrest of Palestinians released in exchanges “in response to Hamas’s repeated and ongoing violations.”

National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir said that the correct response was to “destroy [Hamas] completely.” Other options include halting the already severely limited flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, expanding Israeli control of the enclave, or ordering air strikes targeting Hamas leaders, according to Israeli media.

The slow return of hostages’ bodies is posing a challenge to implementing the next stages of the ceasefire, which will address even knottier issues, such as the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force in Gaza and deciding who will govern the territory.

Hamas has said that it is struggling to locate the bodies amid the vast destruction in Gaza, while Israel has accused the militant group of purposely delaying their return.

Over the weekend, Egypt deployed a team of experts and heavy equipment to help search for the bodies of the remaining hostages. That work continued today in Khan Younis and Nuseirat.