The ceasefire should be considered officially over, as Israel has ordered more strikes on Gaza, after both sides accused each other of violating the deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday evening that he had ordered “forceful strikes” against Hamas.
Netanyahu claims that the terror organization had been firing on Israeli troops and failing to return the bodies of deceased hostages. This decision to carry out renewed strikes was announced by the prime minister’s office directly. It said it means “to immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” according to a report by The New York Times. The prime minister had made the decision along with the Israeli military and informed United States President Trump “before the action was taken.”
Both Israeli and Arab media reported that the strikes could be seen, and Gaza’s civil defense has already reported that several more people have been killed. Before the ceasefire, about 68,000 Palestinians had lost their lives in the war.
A spokesman for Netanyahu, David Mencer, said Tuesday night that “Hamas has violated the framework by not returning hostages and attacking our forces.”
Hamas denied the allegations and claimed it remains committed to the ceasefire, even though Israel has violated it. Hamas added that it continues to work in “good faith” to locate and recover the bodies of those killed.
Speaking on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance lied, saying “the cease-fire is holding,” despite what he called “little skirmishes here and there.”
“We expect the Israelis are going to respond” when fired upon, he said. “But I think the president’s peace is going to hold despite that.” Is it peace when two sides are attacking each other? Vance’s war mongering and bold-faced lie did not go unnoticed. But he’s infamously said that he doesn’t “give a sh*t” about war crimes.
U.S. Commits War Crime: J.D. Vance Says “I Don’t Give A S**t”
Israel claims Hamas is staging the recovery of bodies and lying about it. The Israeli military said that they have video proof showing that Hamas was trying “to create a false impression” of its efforts to locate the bodies, when it was not abiding by the cease-fire deal in good faith.
The ceasefire is officially over, though it likely had been earlier as skirmishes continued after it was put in place. How much longer until it’s a full-blown war again?