After repeated deadly incidents in the Gaza Strip, the US is increasing its efforts to maintain the fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist Hamas. After their arrival in Israel, the two US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner persuaded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to do anything that could endanger the ceasefire, according to local media reports.
US Vice President JD Vance is also on the way to becoming an ally in order to promote further implementation of the agreement with Hamas. Shortly before his departure, US President Donald Trump again warned Hamas: We have an agreement with the Palestinian terrorist organization that it will “behave decently,” said Trump – if it doesn’t do that, it will be “wiped out.” Hamas knows that.
Hamas hands over another hostage’s body
Meanwhile, the terrorist group handed over the body of another hostage to Israel. After the identification that night, Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the body was that of Israeli Tal Haimi. According to information from the Israeli military, the then 41-year-old defended a kibbutz during the terrorist attack by Hamas and other Islamist extremists on Israel on October 7, 2023 and was killed. His body was then taken to the neighboring Gaza Strip.
According to media reports, Haimi left behind his wife and four children. The youngest was born seven months after his murder.
On October 7, the terrorists killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 to Gaza. The unprecedented massacre was the trigger for the Gaza war.
15 hostages still dead in Gaza
According to the ceasefire agreement, Hamas must hand over a total of 28 bodies. The relatives of 15 of them are still waiting for the remains to be returned. Hamas says it is difficult for it to find the bodies because they are buried under the rubble of bombed buildings and tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday last week, the Islamists had already released the last 20 living hostages. The first phase of the ceasefire initiated by Trump calls for the release and handover of all hostages, living and dead, to Israel.
Trump announced on Monday that he would continue to give the Palestinian terrorist organization a chance to comply with the ceasefire. He expressed confidence that a deadly attack on Israeli soldiers on Sunday was not authorized by Hamas’ leadership. “I don’t think it was the leadership,” Trump said. Rather, there was a rebellion within the ranks of Hamas. Many people were killed.
New incidents in Gaza
According to the Israeli army, its own troops were attacked on Sunday in southern Gaza in an area controlled by the Israeli military. Two soldiers were killed. Israel’s air force then carried out its heaviest attacks since the ceasefire began on October 10th. According to hospitals in the Gaza Strip, 44 Palestinians were killed. Hamas’s military wing denied any responsibility for the attacks on Israeli soldiers.
After the interim escalation, Israel and Hamas issued statements that they were committed to the ceasefire. However, incidents occurred again on Monday. The Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing a clinic, reported two deaths from Israeli shelling in the east of the city of Gaza.
Israel’s military said that in two cases Palestinian “terrorists” had crossed the “yellow line” behind which the army had withdrawn as part of the agreed ceasefire. Because the two men posed a threat to the soldiers, they were fired upon. The information provided by both sides could not initially be independently verified.
Report: USA sets up coordination center
On the same day, according to information from the Wall Street Journal, around 200 US soldiers were in Israel to set up a coordination center made up of civilians and military representatives. This should monitor compliance with the ceasefire and deal with humanitarian aid and logistical support for the Gaza Strip, it said, citing a Pentagon official. International partners are expected to help with coordination in the coming days and weeks, the newspaper reported.
Israel is now allowing humanitarian goods into the sealed-off Gaza Strip again. On Sunday it was said that aid deliveries had been stopped because of Hamas’s “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire agreements.
After the ceasefire came into force, aid deliveries were expanded, with a target of 600 truckloads a day. When asked, the responsible Israeli authority, Cogat, initially did not comment on how many vans are actually currently driving into the area.
