Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to strike Gaza, with immediate effect.
The command, confirmed by his office on the evening of Tuesday October 28th, followed the receipt of a coffin from Hamas that did not contain the body of a deceased Israeli hostage, as the terror group claimed. IDF drone footage appeared to show human remains being reburied by Hamas militants, in order to facilitate a fake excavation.
Forensic tests link the partial remains to Ofir Tzarfati, matching those recovered by Israeli forces in late 2023. They are not part of any of the 13 deceased hostages still in Gaza, putting Hamas in “clear violation” of the two-week-old Donald Trump-led Gaza ceasefire deal.
An official Hamas statement accused Israel of seeking to “fabricate false pretexts in preparation for taking new aggressive steps,” while ignoring its own responsibility for the October 7th pogrom in 2023 which opened the current wave of hostilities.
