Gaza's civil defence agency said Israel carried out air strikes Tuesday despite an ongoing ceasefire, after accusing Hamas of attacking its troops and violating the US-brokered truce.
At least two people were killed when one strike hit a house in Gaza City, the agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas, said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered "powerful strikes" on Gaza, his office said, amid intense accusations that Hamas had violated the ceasefire.
Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Hamas of attacking its troops in Gaza.
"The terrorist organisation Hamas will pay a heavy price for attacking IDF soldiers in Gaza and for violating the agreement to return the bodies of the hostages," Katz said in a statement.
"Hamas's attack today on IDF soldiers in Gaza is a crossing of a bright red line, to which the IDF will respond with great force."
Gaza's civil defence agency said at least three strikes were carried out, while the territory's main Al-Shifa hospital said one hit the backyard of the facility.
Hamas had announced it would hand over the body of another hostage as demanded by Israel under the ceasefire deal.
The group had come under mounting pressure after it returned on Monday partial remains of a previously recovered captive, which Israel said was a breach of the truce.
It later said it would delay Tuesday's handover of the hostage body.
It added that Israeli "escalation will hinder the search, excavation, and recovery of the bodies".
In AFP footage, several masked Hamas fighters are seen emerging from a tunnel carrying a body wrapped in a white plastic bag, believed to be that of a hostage Hamas had planned to hand over on Tuesday.
Behind them trails a crowd of men and children, some raising their mobile phones to capture the moment.
'We want to rest'
Hamas handed over late on Monday what it said was the 16th of 28 hostage bodies it had agreed to return under the ceasefire deal, which came into effect on October 10.
But Israeli forensic examination determined Hamas had in fact handed over partial remains of a hostage whose body had already been brought back to Israel around two years ago, according to Netanyahu's office.
In returning the partial remains, Netanyahu's office and a campaign group representing hostage families accused Hamas of breaching the ceasefire.
Netanyahu's office decried a "clear violation of the agreement" after identification procedures revealed the latest remains belonged "to the fallen hostage Ofir Tzarfati, who had been returned from the Gaza Strip in a military operation about two years ago".
Israeli government spokeswoman, Shosh Bedrosian, told journalists that "in terms of consequences for Hamas nothing is off the table right now, but all of this is in full coordination with the United States, with (US) President (Donald) Trump and his team."
Bedrosian also accused Hamas of staging the discovery of Tzarfati's remains.
"I can confirm to you today that Hamas dug a hole in the ground yesterday, placed the partial remains of Ofir inside of it, covered it back up with dirt, and handed it over to the Red Cross," she said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged the government to take action.
"The Israeli government cannot and must not ignore this, and must act decisively against these violations," the forum said, accusing Hamas of knowing the location of the missing hostages.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem rejected claims the group knows where the remaining bodies are, arguing that Israel's bombardment during the two-year conflict had left locations unrecognisable.
'Third set of remains'
"The movement is determined to hand over the bodies of the Israeli captives as soon as possible once they are located," he told AFP.
Hamas has already returned all 20 living hostages as agreed in the ceasefire deal.
Hamas also accused Israel of ceasefire violations, with the territory's health ministry saying that at least 94 people had been killed in Israeli fire since the truce began.
On the ground in Gaza, 60-year-old Abdul-Hayy al-Hajj Ahmed told AFP he was afraid the war would start again because of the mounting pressure on Hamas.
"Now they accuse Hamas of stalling, and that is a pretext for renewed escalation and war," he said.
"We want to rest. I believe the war will come back."
During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Hamas militants took 251 people hostage, most of whom had been released, rescued or recovered before this month's ceasefire.
The attack itself resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza killed at least 68,531 people, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
Despite the ceasefire, the toll has continued to climb as more bodies are found under the rubble.
Ofir Tzarfati was at the Nova music festival on October 7 when he was "abducted into captivity, where he was murdered", the hostage forum said.
It added that this was the third time remains belonging to him had been returned, after his body was recovered at the end of 2023, and additional remains were returned in March 2024.
"The circle supposedly 'closed' back in December 2023, but it never truly closes," Tzarfati's family said in the statement from the forum.
With AFP
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