The US president denied that the resumption of hostilities was \u201cjeopardizing\u201d the ceasefire<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump has defended Israel\u2019s renewed strikes in Gaza nearly three weeks into a ceasefire he helped broker.
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered \u201cimmediate and powerful strikes\u201d on Tuesday evening, citing Hamas attacks on Israeli soldiers still holding parts of the Palestinian enclave. At least 30 Palestinians were killed in the action, according to Gaza\u2019s Hamas-run government.
\n\u201cAs I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier,\u201d Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday en route from Japan to South Korea. \u201cThey killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back \u2013\u00a0and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back,\u201d he added.
\nTrump argued that \u201cnothing is going to jeopardize\u201d the ceasefire. He insisted that Hamas was \u201ca very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave,\u201d otherwise \u201ctheir lives will be terminated.\u201d<\/p>\n
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US Vice President J.D. Vance earlier said the ceasefire was holding despite \u201clittle skirmishes here and there.\u201d\u00a0Axios cited unnamed senior US officials as saying the White House had urged Israel not to take \u201cradical measures\u201d that could collapse the truce.
\nAccording to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), last week two of its soldiers were attacked and killed by Hamas in Rafah, southern Gaza, and more soldiers came under fire in the same area on Tuesday. Hamas denied involvement in both incidents, accusing Israel of \u201ca blatant ceasefire violation.\u201d
\nThe Palestinian armed group warned that the escalation \u201cwill lead to a delay\u201d in recovering and returning the bodies of the 13 remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Israeli officials earlier accused Hamas of dragging its feet in handing over all the remains, as agreed under the ceasefire mediated by the US, Egypt, Qatar, and T\u00fcrkiye, which took effect on October 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US president denied that the resumption of hostilities was \u201cjeopardizing\u201d the ceasefire US President Donald Trump has defended Israel\u2019s renewed strikes in Gaza nearly three weeks into a ceasefire…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t