ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that a U.S.-backed ceasefire in Gaza was not at risk after local authorities reported that 26 people had been killed in Israeli strikes, as Israel and Hamas traded accusations of blame for the violence.
Israeli planes launched strikes in Gaza on Tuesday after Israel accused the militant group Hamas of violating the ceasefire, the latest violence in the three-week-old deal brokered by Trump.
Gazan health authorities said the strikes killed at least 26 people, including five in a house hit in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, four in a building in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood, and five in a car in Khan Younis.
“As I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “So the Israelis hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back,” he added.
“Nothing is going to jeopardize” the ceasefire, Trump said. “You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave.”
The attacks by Israeli planes continued into early Wednesday across the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes, which followed a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying he had ordered immediate “powerful attacks.”
The statement did not give a specific reason for the attacks but an Israeli military official said Hamas had violated the ceasefire by carrying out an attack against Israeli forces in an Israeli-controlled area of the enclave.
“This is yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire,” the official said.
The U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement went into effect on October 10, halting two years of war triggered by deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Both sides have accused each other of ceasefire violations.
“If they (Hamas) are good, they are going to be happy and if they are not good, they are going to be terminated, their lives will be terminated,” Trump said.
“Nobody knows what happened to the Israeli soldier but they say it was sniper fire. And it was retribution for that, and I think they have a right to do that.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli media reported an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the reports.
Hamas denied responsibility for an attack on Israeli forces in Rafah. The group also said in a statement that it remained committed to the ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Tuesday’s strikes on Gaza City followed what Israel called a “targeted strike” on Saturday on a person in central Gaza who it said was planning to attack Israeli troops.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Additional reporting by Tamar Uriel-Beeri in Jerusalem, Steve Holland and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Writing by Maayan Lubell, Emily Rose, Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom; Writing by Stephen Coates; Editing by Michael Perry)
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