Jerusalem, Oct 28 (UNI) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to “carry out immediate and powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip” in wake of Hamas’ continued violation of its ceasefire commitments, which includes its staged return of hostage’s remains whose body had been recovered by the IDF two years ago and its persistent attacks on Israeli troops in Rafah.
After massive uproar in both its political and social circles following the terror group’s false hostage repatriation, Netanyahu called in an emergency meeting with top political-military officials to discuss the Israeli response to repeated violations of the Gaza ceasefire.
According to the Israeli PMO, IDF personnel struck Hamas-used infrastructure in southern Gaza after members of the terror group attacked troops with anti-armour munitions and fired from assault rifles.
“The response to Hamas’ current violations will be much more significant than the response last time,” an Israeli official told Jerusalem Post, adding that IDF soldiers were exchanging gunfire with Hamas fighters to prevent the group from further endangering personnel’s lives on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line.
Following a situational assessment and with the approval of Defence Minister Israel Katz, the security restrictions that have been in place in the Gaza border communities since October 7 by the IDF have been lifted.
As of now, Jerusalem is mulling five possible options should the terror group continue with its ceasefire violations and fail in returning the hostage remains as agreed, Israeli security officials said on Monday.
The options include extending operational control, targeted escalation, hostage-remains-retrieval operations, diplomatic pressure, and ending existing agreements, with the IDF command stating repeatedly that the terror group has access to almost all the bodies and is stalling the completion of the first phase of the ceasefire by dragging its feet on hostage repatriation.
