Israel on Tuesday night launched "powerful strikes" on Gaza after accusing Hamas of faking its search for the remains of hostages.
Explosions were heard in Gaza city late on Tuesday, with strikes reported near Al Shifa Hospital. Civil defence workers said at least two people were dead in several attacks, in a major test of the October 10 ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to "immediately carry out powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip" after talks with security officials, his office said, as Israel claimed that Hamas had violated the truce.
Hamas said that it remains committed to the ceasefire agreement.
"This terrorist attack is a continuation of the series of violations committed over the past days, including assaults that resulted in martyrs and wounded, and the continued closure of the Rafah crossing," the group said in a release.
In one incident, the Israeli military accused Hamas of burying a body then staging a sham discovery shortly afterwards. Army drone footage was said to show Hamas operatives hiding the remains. Israel also accused Hamas of attacking its troops, although details were scant.
A new round of Israeli strikes would be the second major breach of the truce, after Israel launched attacks two weeks ago that killed 44 people. Israel blamed that on an incident in southern Gaza in which two troops were killed.
Hamas said it would postpone the latest return of hostage remains, warning that any Israeli escalation would only delay the process further. The group says it needs time to find the remains of hostages in the enclave, where Israeli troops are still operating and two years of war have left bodies buried under rubble.
An Egyptian search and rescue team entered Gaza at the weekend to offer help. But the Israeli military said Hamas was "attempting to create a false impression of efforts to locate the bodies".
"Hamas will pay with compound interest for attacking the soldiers and violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages," Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Mr Netanyahu's office said earlier that partial remains handed over on Tuesday night belonged to Israeli hostage Ofir Tzarfati, whose body had been returned in 2023. There was no immediate comment from Hamas or the Red Cross, which is mediating the handover of remains.
"This constitutes a clear violation of the agreement by the Hamas terrorist organisation," Mr Netanyahu's office said at the time. "Prime Minister Netanyahu will hold a security discussion with the heads of the security establishment to discuss Israel's steps in response to the violations."
Under the ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, Hamas was to hand over 20 surviving Israeli hostages – which the group has done – and the remains of 28. Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned. Officials in Gaza have said Israel has provided unidentified and mutilated remains, some of which have since been buried in a mass grave.
West Bank violence
Fears have also increased over Israeli ambitions in the occupied West Bank. Three people were shot dead by Israeli forces on Tuesday during a raid in the north of the territory. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the men as Abdullah Jalmana, 27, Qais Al Bitawi, 21, and AhmedNashti, 29.
Israeli forces stormed the village of Kafr Qud, besieged an area of farmland and shot the three men, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The army also bombed a vehicle belonging to the three men, setting it on fire along with olive trees, Wafa added.
The Israeli military said troops identified a “terrorist” cell inside a cave near Jenin, before firing on three militants as they emerged from the hideout. “Two terrorists were eliminated and one was injured. After a short while, the [air force] eliminated the additional terrorist,” the military said in a statement.
The joint operation on Tuesday was carried out by the military and the Israeli police's elite counter-terrorism unit Yamam.
Mr Katz praised the operation and warned that any attempt by extremist groups to rebuild infrastructure “will be crushed with an iron fist”.
“I have ordered the [military] to take all necessary measures, on the ground and from the air, to eliminate terrorist threats" in the West Bank, he added.
Hamas condemned the operation, calling it part of a “systematic policy of field killings”. The group said the shootings “add to the record of bloody crimes committed by the occupation against our people”.
Israel has increased military operations in the West Bank since the Gaza war began two years ago. Last winter, the military launched a large-scale campaign across several northern West Bank refugee camps that aimed to suppress Palestinian armed groups.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have since been displaced in the West Bank, where Israel has demolished dozens of homes and buildings.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
UAE finals day
Friday, April 13
Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
3pm, UAE Conference: Dubai Tigers v Sharjah Wanderers
6.30pm, UAE Premiership: Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Spare
Profile
Company name: Spare
Started: March 2018
Co-founders: Dalal Alrayes and Saurabh Shah
Based: UAE
Sector: FinTech
Investment: Own savings. Going for first round of fund-raising in March 2019
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Pushkin Press
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
Abu Dhabi traffic facts
Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road
The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.
Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.
The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.
The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.
Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – UAE won by 36 runs
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
AL%20BOOM
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How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
