US Insists Ceasefire Will Hold As Israel Launches Heavy Strikes On Gaza City

Update(1457ET): Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has allged Hamas fighters attacked IDF troops despite an ongoing ceasefire. “Hamas will pay a heavy price for attacking soldiers in Gaza and for violating the agreement to return the bodies of the hostages,” Katz as heavy bombardments in the Strip have been reported. He said Hamas’ actions are “crossing of a bright red line, to which the [military] will respond with great force.”

Gaza’s civil defense agency has confirmed several airstrikes in a statement to Al Jazeera. Hamas is denying the accusations, in a statement saying “Israel must realize we are committed to the agreement, and they must stop falsely accusing us of violating it.” This as Al Jazeera writes, “For the past 30 minutes, there has been major activity in the air over Gaza’s skies, with drones hovering above.” A series of airstrikes have hit Gaza City in particular.

In response to these developments the US is insisting it believes the ceasefire will hold. “Despite the clashes today, the ceasefire agreement in Gaza will continue,” Vice President J.D. Vance said Tuesday afternoon.

Several strikes reported within the last hour by the Israeli Air Force against the area in and around Gaza City in Northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/PWec6tZivl

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 28, 2025

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“Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the military echelon to carry out immediate and powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” a statement issued moments ago by the Prime Minister’s office indicates.

“Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the military to immediately carry out powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” a statement from his office says. Netanyahu has accused Hamas of committing a “clear violation” of the ceasefire deal.

Though the past over 2-weeks in which the Hamas ceasefire has held has witnessed intermittent flare-ups in fighting, this could be the big one which unravels the whole thing.

Less than an hour before the new strikes were ordered by Netanyahu, Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported, “Hamas violated the ceasefire by attacking IDF soldiers in Rafah, I’m told by an Israeli military official.”

And Al Jazeera says, “In a sign of the fragility of the ceasefire, Israeli troops were shot at in the southern city of Rafah on Tuesday and returned fire, an unnamed Israeli military official told The Associated Press.”

SHEKEL HITS SESSION LOW AS NETANYAHU INSTRUCTS ON GAZA STRIKES
HAMAS SAYS POSTPONES TODAY’S HANDOVER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE BODY

Expect the blame-game to begin, as IDF strikes resume in the Gaza Strip once again. Since the ceasefire has been on, however, some 100 Palestinians have died. Thirteen bodes of hostages remain in Gaza.

Axios reviews of the latest developments:

The Trump administration has been focusing over the last several weeks on stabilizing the ceasefire and pressing both parties to avoid steps that could detonate it.
As part of that mission, the White House sent several top officials to Israel and established a U.S. command center in Israel to oversee it and monitor the situation on the ground.
But a deepening dispute over the return of deceased hostages by Hamas, and a firefight on Tuesday in the city of Rafah, intensified calls in Israel for military action. The strikes Netanyahu ordered could rupture the ceasefire altogether.

The question over the remaining deceased hostage bodies has renewed put pressure on the Netanyahu government to not move on to the second phase of ceasefire:

The families of Israeli hostages on Monday demanded that the next steps in the US-brokered Gaza peace plan be put on hold until Hamas returns the remaining bodies of dead captives.

“Hamas knows exactly where every one of the deceased hostages is held. Two weeks have passed since the deadline set in the agreement for the return of all 48 hostages, yet 13 remain in Hamas captivity,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

Further, the Israeli military has accused Hamas of staging a propaganda campaign which lies about efforts to recover slain hostages:

Hamas are lying about our hostages and here’s the proof:

Yesterday, Hamas terrorists were filmed removing body remains from a prepared structure and re-burying them nearby, before summoning Red Cross representatives to stage a false “discovery” for photographers.

Despite… pic.twitter.com/c9CkJo3msW

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 28, 2025