Israel army launches air strikes in Gaza's Rafah 'in response to attacks by militants'

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida The US State Department has said that it has “credible reports” that Hamas could violate the ceasefire with an attack on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

If the attack takes place, it “would constitute a direct and grave violation” of the agreement forged by President Donald Trump to end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas, the statement said.

No further details were disclosed about the potential attack.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, confirmed it carried out air strikes in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday after its troops came under fire from militants.

"Earlier today, terrorists fired anti-tank missiles and opened fire on IDF forces operating to destroy terrorist infrastructure in the Rafah area in accordance with the terms of the agreement," the military said in a statement.

"The IDF responded with air strikes by fighter jets and artillery fire, targeting the Rafah area to neutralise the threat and destroying several operational tunnels and military structures where terrorist activity was detected."

”Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire,” the State Department said.

Trump previously warned on social media that “if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.”

The US president later clarified he won’t send US troops into Gaza after launching the threat against Hamas.

“It’s not going to be us,” he told reporters. “We won’t have to. There are people very close, very nearby that will go in and they’ll do the trick very easily, but under our auspices.”

Trump’s hostile rhetoric represented a shift after initially expressing nonchalance about Hamas killings, saying they had taken out “a couple of gangs that were very bad.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the country's security forces to take "strong action" against militant targets in the Gaza Strip, accusing Hamas of breaching the ceasefire.

"Following a ceasefire violation by Hamas, Prime Minister Netanyahu held consultations with the defence minister and senior security officials and instructed to take strong action against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

Netanyahu warned on Saturday that the war in Gaza would not be over until Hamas was disarmed and the Palestinian territory demilitarised.

His declaration came as Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, handed over the remains of two further hostages on Saturday night under a US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Netanyahu's office said late Saturday that a Red Cross team had received the remains of two hostages from Hamas and handed them to Israeli forces in Gaza, from where they would be taken to Israel to be identified.

The issue of the dead hostages still in Gaza has become a sticking point in the implementation of the first phase of the ceasefire. Israel has linked the reopening of the key Rafah crossing to the territory to the recovery of the hostages' remains.

Netanyahu cautioned that completing the ceasefire's second phase was essential to ending the war and involved the disarming of Hamas and the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip.

"When that is successfully completed - hopefully in an easy way, but if not, in a hard way - then the war will end," he added in an appearance on right-wing Israeli Channel 14.

Hamas has so far resisted the idea and since the pause in fighting has moved to reassert its control over Gaza.

The US State Department on Saturday said it had "credible reports" that Hamas was planning an imminent attack against civilians in Gaza, warning that would be a "ceasefire violation".

"Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire," it said in a statement, without elaborating on the nature or target of such an attack.

Under the ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, Hamas has so far released all 20 living hostages, along with the remains of nine Israelis and one Nepalese.

In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and 135 other bodies of Palestinians since the truce came into effect on October 10.

Hamas has said it needs time and technical assistance to recover the remaining bodies, which it says are buried under Gaza's rubble.

Netanyahu's office said he had "directed that the Rafah crossing remain closed until further notice".