E-Paper
Netanyahu to hold meeting on possible Israeli response to Hamas ‘violations’
This comes a day after Hamas handed over the body parts of a hostage whose remains had already been recovered two years ago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene an emergency meeting on Tuesday to hold discussions on a possible response to Hamas violations of the first phase of the Gaza peace deal, Times of Israel reported.
Netanyahu said he would consult with the Israeli defence establishment over the response to the ceasefire “violations”, Reuters reported.
This comes a day after Hamas handed over the additional remains of a hostage whose remains had already been recovered two years ago, according to Israel.
Netanyahu said the remains of the hostage returned overnight by Hamas on Monday were body parts of a hostage who had been recovered by the Israeli troops in Gaza.
Over the two years of the war in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli forces recovered the bodies of some 51 hostages, the Associated Press reported.
Following this, Netanyahu called the return of the remains a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States, which came into effect on October 10.
If the remains returned on Monday belong to a hostage already recovered, it would be a week since Hamas handed over a body, Times of Israel reported.
While Hamas has said that it is facing difficulties in locating the bodies of the Israeli hostages amid the vast destruction in Gaza, Israel insists that the group is dragging its feet on the requirement.
Israel kills three people in raid near West Bank
Meanwhile, Israeli police said that the country's forces had killed three Palestinians during a raid near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday, AFP reported.
The Israeli police described the three as members of a “terrorist cell”. The operation was carried out jointly by the army and Israeli police's counterterrorism unit, Yamam, in the village of Kafr Qud.
“…The fighters acted to neutralise a terrorist cell that was planning an attack and was part of a terrorist organisation active in the Jenin refugee camp,” a statement by the Israeli police said.
They said that the forces “opened precise fire” after they spotted “members of the cell emerging from a cave.” The army later launched an air strike on the cave to destroy the “terrorist hideout”, the police said.
