JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (Oct 29) that a US-backed ceasefire in Gaza was not at risk after local authorities reported that 26 people had been killed in Israeli strikes, as Israel and Hamas traded accusations of blame for the violence.
Israeli planes launched strikes in Gaza on Tuesday after Israel accused the militant group Hamas of violating the ceasefire, the latest violence in the three-week-old deal brokered by Trump.
Gazan health authorities said the strikes killed at least 26 people, including five in a house hit in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, four in a building in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood, and five in a car in Khan Younis.
“As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back,” he added.
“Nothing is going to jeopardise” the ceasefire, Trump said. “You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”
The attacks by Israeli planes continued into early Wednesday across the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes, which followed a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying he had ordered immediate “powerful attacks.”
The statement did not give a specific reason for the attacks but an Israeli military official said Hamas had violated the ceasefire by carrying out an attack against Israeli forces in an Israeli-controlled area of the enclave.
“This is yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire,” the official said.
