Gaza Ceasefire Collapses: Israel Conducts New Strikes After Soldier's Death Despite US Mediation Efforts

The Gaza truce, mediated by US President Donald Trump, went into effect on October 10 but quickly deteriorated.

Israel conducted a precision strike on Wednesday targeting what it described as an arms depot in the Beit Lahia area of northern Gaza. The Israeli military claimed the weapons were being stockpiled for "an imminent terror attack."

Israeli forces stated they would maintain their deployment "in accordance with the ceasefire agreement" and continue operations to eliminate what they consider immediate threats.

According to Gaza's civil defence agency, one Palestinian was killed in Wednesday's strike. The agency reported to AFP that 104 people—including 46 children and 24 women—had perished in intensive bombardments the previous night.

The renewed bombing campaign began after an Israeli soldier was killed in Gaza on Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, Israel announced it had started "renewed enforcement of the ceasefire."

Despite assurances from US President Donald Trump and Qatari mediators that the ceasefire would hold, displaced families in Gaza expressed diminishing hope.

"We had just started to breathe again, trying to rebuild our lives, when the bombardment came back," said Khadija al-Husni, a 31-year-old displaced mother sheltering with her children at a school in Al-Shati refugee camp.

"It's a crime. Either there is a truce or a war—it can't be both. The children couldn't sleep; they thought the war was over."

UN Rights Chief Volker Turk called the death toll "appalling" and urged all parties not to let peace "slip from our grasp." His plea was echoed by Britain, Germany, and the European Union, who called for recommitment to the ceasefire.

In Deir el-Balah, Jalal Abbas, a 40-year-old residing in a tent near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, expressed despair and accused Israel of using false pretexts to resume hostilities.

"The problem is that Trump gives them cover to kill civilians because they mislead him with false information," he told AFP. "We want an end to the war and the escalation. We're exhausted and on the verge of collapse."

The Israeli military claimed its strikes targeted 30 senior militants, with Defense Minister Israel Katz stating that "dozens of Hamas commanders were neutralized."

Israel said it launched the strikes after Master Sergeant Yona Efraim Feldbaum, a 37-year-old reservist, was killed in Rafah when his engineering vehicle came under enemy fire.

Hamas denied involvement in the Rafah shooting incident and reaffirmed its commitment to the US-backed ceasefire. The group subsequently delayed handing over what it claimed were the remains of a hostage, warning that any "escalation will hinder the search, excavation and recovery of the bodies."

Militants took 251 hostages during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war. Following the ceasefire implementation this month, Hamas returned 20 surviving captives still in its custody and began the process of returning 28 bodies of hostages.

A dispute over the slow return of these remains has threatened the ceasefire agreement—a plan backed by the Trump administration and regional mediators Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar.

Israel accuses Hamas of breaking the deal by not returning remains quickly enough, while Hamas contends it needs time to locate bodies buried in Gaza's ruins.

Tensions escalated after Hamas returned partial remains of a previously recovered captive, which Israel deemed a violation of the truce.

Hamas had claimed these remains represented the 16th of 28 hostage bodies to be returned under the ceasefire agreement. However, forensic examination determined they were actually partial remains of a hostage whose body had already been returned to Israel two years ago, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu's office.

Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian accused Hamas of staging the discovery, stating: "Hamas dug a hole in the ground yesterday, placed the partial remains inside of it, covered it back up with dirt, and handed it over to the Red Cross."

The International Committee of the Red Cross responded to Israeli military footage apparently showing this deception, declaring it was "unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged."

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in 1,221 deaths on the Israeli side, primarily civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 68,643 people, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable.