The Hamas terrorist organization released a statement this evening (Tuesday) denying involvement in the attack on IDF soldiers in the Rafah area earlier today.
Hamas denied that it "any connection to the shooting incident in Rafah," and emphasized that it is "committed to the ceasefire agreement."
Terrorists opened fire Tuesday evening at Israeli troops operating in the Rafah area, sparking exchanges of fire in what Israel has called a new violation of the ceasefire by the terrorist organization. IDF forces conducted artillery strikes in response to the attacks and IAF aircraft flew over Rafah.
Israel has blamed Hamas for the attack in Rafah. During a security consultation held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials discussed a range of possible Israeli responses to the ceasefire violation, including airstrikes in Gaza. Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu directed the military to immediately carry out forceful strikes in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas responded to what it called Israel's "violations" of the ceasefire by refusing to return the body of a murdered Israeli hostage this evening.
Tensions are at a heightened state after it was discovered that, rather than returning the body of one of the 13 hostages whose remains are still held captive in Gaza as it promised to yesterday, Hamas returned the partial remains of a hostage whose body was mostly recovered from Gaza two years ago.
Earlier Tuesday, the IDF released footage showing Hamas operatives burying remains belonging to murdered hostage Ofir Tzarfati, whose body had been returned to Israel in a military operation two years ago. After burying the remains, the terrorists staged their “discovery” of them and handed them over to Israel through the Red Cross.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas was required to return all hostages in its possession within 72 hours. The group released all 20 living hostages it held, but not all of the deceased. So far, Hamas has returned 15 of the 28 fallen hostages held in Gaza before the deal, leaving 13 bodies still in the Strip.