Israeli military confirms strikes in southern Gaza, claims its troops came under fire

Israel identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)

Israel said it struck Hamas militants in southern Gaza on Sunday after they shot at Israeli soldiers who were inside the area that is still under Israeli control, according to the conditions of the October 10 ceasefire.

Israeli aircraft and artillery struck the area, the military said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with Israel’s security heads and directed the military to take “strong action” against any ceasefire violations, but did not threaten to return to war.

Hamas said that it was not connected to any clashes in Rafah.

Meanwhile, Israel identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight, as the Palestinian group said talks to launch the second phase of ceasefire negotiations had begun

Mr Netanyahu’s office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father-of-three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker killed at Kibbutz Be’eri.

Both were believed to have been killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023, and their bodies were taken to Gaza.

Ronen Engel was killed during the October 7 attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz on the Gaza border (Hostages Family Forum via AP)

Mr Engel’s wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.

Elsewhere, Israel threatened to keep the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed “until further notice”.

The statement by Mr Netanyahu’s office said reopening Rafah would depend on how Hamas fulfiled its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages.

In the past week, Hamas has handed over the remains of 13 bodies, 12 of which have been identified as hostages. Israel said one of the bodies released did not belong to a hostage.

Israel has released 150 bodies of Palestinians back to Gaza, including 15 on Sunday, according to the Gaza health ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.

Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker, was killed at Kibbutz Be’eri (Hostages Family Forum via AP)

Israel has neither identified the bodies nor said how they died. The ministry has posted photos of dozens of bodies on its website to help families and relatives attempting to locate their loved ones, but the bodies were decomposed, blackened and some were missing limbs and teeth.

Only 25 bodies had been identified, the health ministry said.

After Israel and Hamas exchanged 20 living hostages for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the handover of the remains of deceased hostages and prisoners remains a major issue in the first stage of the ceasefire proposed by US President Donald Trump.

A major scale-up of aid, including the opening of the Rafah border crossing, for humanitarian aid and people entering or leaving Gaza, is the other central issue.

The next stages of the ceasefire will focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that militants shot at troops in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in the Israeli-controlled areas, according to the agreed-upon ceasefire lines. No injuries were reported.

Hamas said it needs special equipment to locate the bodies of additional hostages (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)

A senior Hamas official denied that Hamas was involved.

Hamas and Israel have each accused each other of violating the fragile ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Hamas said that talks with mediators to start the second phase of the ceasefire had begun.

Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesman, said in a statement late on Saturday that the second phase of negotiations “requires national consensus”.

He also said Hamas had begun discussions to “solidify its positions”, without providing further details.

According to Mr Trump’s plan, the negotiations will include disarming Hamas and the establishment of an internationally backed authority to run the embattled Gaza Strip.

A woman grieves over the coffin of her son, a hostage who was killed and whose body was returned from Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)

Mr Kassem reiterated that the group would not be part of the ruling authority in a post-war Gaza.

Hamas-run government bodies in the Gaza Strip are running day-to-day affairs to avoid a power void, he said.

“Government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous, and this will continue until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions,” he said.

Mr Kassem called for a Community Support Committee, a body of Palestinian technocrats, to run the day-to-day affairs, to be established promptly.

Israel did not open the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, in an attempt to pressure Hamas to return more hostages’ bodies.

Hamas said it needs special equipment to locate the bodies of additional hostages, but Israel believes Hamas has access to more bodies than it has returned.

Government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous, and this will continue until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions

The Rafah crossing was the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side.

A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Palestinians to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

On Sunday, the Palestinian Authority’s interior ministry in Ramallah announced procedures for Palestinians wishing to leave or enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. For those who wanted to leave Gaza, Palestinian embassy staff from Cairo would be at the crossing to issue temporary travel documents that allowed entry into Egypt. Palestinians who wished to enter the Gaza Strip would need to apply at the embassy in Cairo for relevant entry documents.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government in the territory. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate of wartime deaths by UN agencies and many independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack that sparked the war.

Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire after crossing the ceasefire line, according to the Hamas-run civil defence (Yousef Al Zanoun/AP)

The group rejected on Sunday a claim by the US state department that said it had credible reports of an imminent planned attack by Hamas against residents of Gaza.

“This planned attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement and undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts,” the US state department said in a statement on Saturday.

Hamas called the claim “false allegations”, and accused Israel of supporting armed groups operating in Israeli-controlled areas.

Hamas urged the US administration to pressure Israel to stop supporting the gangs and “providing them a safe haven”.

Hamas-led fighters clashed with at least two armed groups in eastern Gaza City that the group alleges are involved in looting aid and collaborating with Israel. They executed a handful of suspects in public, in widely condemned street killings.

The interior ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said its forces were working to restore law and order across areas Israel’s military withdrew from following the ceasefire.