Latest update March 26th, 2026 12:30 AM
Israel launches ‘wave’ of air strikes on Gaza as truce teeters, kills 35
(AL-JAZEERA) Israel on Sunday launched a series of deadly air strikes targeting central and southern Gaza after its forces blame Hamas for targeting its soldiers. Hamas said Israel’s claims were false and baseless.
The civil defence agency said at least 35 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn, including on a school sheltering war-displaced civilians.
The Israeli army has committed at least 47 violations of the ceasefire agreement since it came into force in early October, killing 35 people and wounding at least 146, officials say.
A drone view shows the destruction in a residential neighbourhood, following the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the area, on October 18, 2025 [Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters]
Israel has accused Palestinians fighters of carrying out attacks on soldiers in Gaza’s south.
Hamas – which continues to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations – said communication with its remaining units in Rafah have been cut off for months and “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas”.
Palestinians quickly feared the return of war.
“It will be a nightmare,” said Mahmoud Hashim, a father of five from Gaza City, who appealed to US President Donald Trump and other mediators to prevent the ceasefire’s collapse.
Israel is pressing Hamas to return the remains of all 28 deceased captives, saying the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will stay closed “until further notice.”
The Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says “Hamas will learn today the hard way” that the Israeli army is “determined to protect its soldiers”, in remarks quoted by the Israeli media.
Israel launched a series of strikes on southern and central Gaza in response to alleged attacks on its forces, according to the military, shaking an already fragile ceasefire in the shattered enclave as it traded blame with Hamas for violating the truce.
Katz was quoted as saying he instructed the army to “act forcefully” against Hamas targets in Gaza.
“Hamas will pay a heavy price for any shooting and violation of the ceasefire, and if the message is not understood the intensity of the responses will increase,” he said.
There’s been no comment from the White House or State Department on the surge of attacks on Gaza.
New reporting coming out suggests there was a conversation between US and Israeli officials before these air attacks began.
According to the news outlet Axios, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, as well as Steve Witkoff, the special envoy for Gaza, reportedly told Israeli officials they could respond to alleged attacks by Hamas on Israeli soldiers.
But the response had to be proportionate, and the Israelis also needed to show restraint, underscoring that the Trump administration doesn’t want to see this ceasefire fall apart. The administration has been celebrating the hard work put into getting this deal done.
Meanwhile, Hamas has rejected a statement from the US State Department in which it cited “credible reports” indicating the Palestinian group would imminently violate the ceasefire deal with Israel.
In a statement on Sunday, Hamas said the US allegations were false and “fully align with the misleading Israeli propaganda and provide cover for the continuation of the occupation’s crimes and organised aggression” against the Palestinians in Gaza.
The US State Department had claimed that Hamas is planning an attack against civilians in Gaza “in grave violation of the ceasefire” and called on the mediating nations to demand that the group uphold its obligations under the US-backed peace deal.
It’s still unclear how a transitional government for Gaza would be formed and who would run it, academic Adnan Hayajneh says, amid Hamas’s long-term control of the devastated enclave.
“It’s not very clear how it’s going to happen, because Hamas has been controlling Gaza for the past 20 years … they run everything,” Hayajneh, professor of international relations at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera.
“Now the US … wants to bring a new government where they’re going to bring all these people to run and establish new institutions, establish a new bureaucracy to run schools, hospitals and everything else.”
Hayajneh warned that those ideas were not very realistic or practical.
“In reality, you have to have an interim government dealing with Hamas or having a transition period in order to have a transfer of power. Bringing a new government will take time.”
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