GAZA/JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH - Seven Palestinians, including children and an infant, were killed and four others injured on Tuesday evening in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip despite a declared ceasefire, the Palestinian Civil Defense said.
According to Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the authorities in Gaza, five people, including children, were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a Tucson-type vehicle on Al-Qassam street in the southern city of Khan Younis. Rescue teams and paramedics rushed to the scene and transferred the victims to a nearby hospital.
In a separate incident, the Israeli army targeted a three-story house belonging to the al-Banna family in the al-Sabra neighborhood in southern Gaza City, killing two people and injuring four others, including a child and an infant, Basal told Xinhua.
The strike caused extensive destruction to the building and damaged nearby homes. Rescue teams continued searching for victims under the rubble, he added.
Palestinian security and eyewitness sources said Israeli warplanes targeted several sites in and around Gaza City, while Israeli artillery shelling hit the outskirts of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, and eastern Khan Younis in the south.
The Israeli military has not immediately commented on the incidents.
In a press statement, Hamas condemned the Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip as "a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement", calling on mediators to "act immediately to pressure the Israeli occupation to halt its escalation against civilians in the Gaza Strip and to abide by all provisions of the agreement".
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On Tuesday evening, Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said that it had postponed the handover of the body of an Israeli hostage, accusing Israel of committing "violations" of the ceasefire agreement.
Hamas said in a press statement that it had postponed the delivery that was scheduled for late Tuesday, warning that any Israeli escalation would "hinder ongoing search and excavation operations to retrieve bodies".
The group said it had discovered the body earlier in the day during search operations inside a tunnel in southern Gaza.
Hamas's statement came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement that he had instructed the military to carry out "immediate and powerful" strikes in Gaza, following what Israel said were violations of the ceasefire by Hamas.
In a statement, Netanyahu said the order was issued following consultations with senior defense officials.
Earlier in the day, Israel's state-owned Army Radio reported that Israeli forces fired artillery into the southern city of Rafah after Hamas fighters targeted Israeli troops with anti-tank weapons and sniper fire.
In a statement issued Tuesday evening, Hamas denied any involvement in the incident, reaffirming its commitment to the ceasefire agreement.
Three killed in northern West Bank
Also on Tuesday, three Palestinian men were killed by the Israeli forces on Tuesday in the west of Jenin in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The General Authority of Civil Affairs informed the ministry of the killing of three men by Israeli gunfire in the village of Kafr Qud, west of Jenin, the ministry said in a brief statement.
The Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported that the Israeli forces stormed the village with military reinforcements, besieged a site, and fired live bullets. The bodies of the three young men were detained.
Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that two of the killed men were its members and the three men were killed after an armed clash with the Israeli forces in the village of Kafr Qud.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Tuesday that during an operational activity in the area of Kafr Qud, Israeli forces conducted a "counterterrorism operation".
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Obstructing search for hostage bodies in Gaza
Meanwhile, a Hamas source said Israel has rejected the entry of teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Palestinian factions into eastern Gaza City to search for the remains of Israeli captives.
"Israel is deliberately putting obstacles in front of the search operations and fabricating false claims about the bodies to serve its aggressive intentions," the source, who asked not to be named, told Xinhua.
Eyewitnesses and local sources said heavy machinery sent by Egypt, accompanied by ICRC staff and armed members of Palestinian factions, waited for several hours on the outskirts of Gaza City's Shuja'iyya neighbourhood for Israeli army coordination but later withdrew without entering the area.
The Israeli army has not commented on the incident. However, Israel's public broadcaster KAN reported that Israel decided to suspend Hamas's field tours with the Red Cross in areas under its control in Gaza.
Body parts of hostage previously retrieved
In another development, Netanyahu's office said that the remains handed over by Hamas on Monday night were in fact body parts belonging to a hostage whose body had already been recovered by the Israeli army around two years ago.
In a statement, the office said Israel regarded the handover as "a clear violation" of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, adding that a security meeting would be convened later on Tuesday with senior defense officials to discuss Israel's response.
The remains were transferred by Hamas via the Red Cross in Gaza overnight and later taken to Tel Aviv for forensic identification.
