United States ruler Donald Trump, who was heavily involved in brokering the ceasefire deal recently broken by Israel and Hamas, has approved of Jerusalem’s renewed strikes on Gaza. It’s just three weeks into the ceasefire agreement, and it’s already over.
“As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday en route from Japan to South Korea. “They killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back – and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back,” he added of Israel’s decision to end the ceasefire.
Ceasefire Collapses: Israel Orders Strikes On Gaza
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced he’d conduct “immediate and powerful strikes,” citing attacks on Israeli troops. At least 30 Palestinians were killed in the action, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run government.
Even though this makes it quite clear that the ceasefire agreement has ended and been breached, Trump argued that “nothing is going to jeopardize” the peace deal. He insisted that Hamas was “a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave”, otherwise, “their lives will be terminated.”
Israel claims that there is a reason they violated the ceasefire, and said Hamas attacked its soldiers first.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), last week, two of its soldiers were attacked and killed by Hamas in Rafah, southern Gaza, and more soldiers came under fire in the same area on Tuesday. Hamas denied involvement in both incidents, accusing Israel of “a blatant ceasefire violation.” -RT
Hamas said that the renewed strikes that are causing an escalation “will lead to a delay” in recovering and returning the bodies of the 13 remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Israeli officials earlier accused Hamas of dragging its feet in handing over all the remains. Israel also claimed that it has video proof of Hamas staging fake videos of them recovering remains. The release of the bodies back to the Israeli government was agreed upon under the ceasefire mediated by the US, Egypt, Qatar, and Türkiye, which took effect on October 10th.