Israeli Airstrike Kills 18 Members of Abu Dalal Family  

GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) -- Over 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza overnight Wednesday, after Israel resumed vicious airstrikes on the strip over what it said were violations by Hamas. 
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said that 104 people were killed by the heavy attacks, which began the night before. 
Forty-six children are among the dead. The Israeli strikes also injured 253 people. 
“In less than twelve hours, Israeli occupation forces have committed horrific massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 100 people,” said Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal. 
“These massacres are being carried out before the eyes of mediators and the international community, which remains silent and incapable of taking any real steps.”
One of the deadliest strikes hit the Abu Dalal family home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, killing 18 people, including women and children. Other attacks targeted tents in Al-Mawasi in the south and Tal al-Hawa in Gaza City.
Israel announced on Wednesday that the ceasefire has been restored after a “series of powerful strikes.” The military said it targeted dozens of “terror targets.”
U.S. President Donald Trump defended the deadly overnight strikes, while claiming that “nothing is going to jeopardize” the ceasefire. 
“They killed an Israeli soldier. So, the Israelis hit back. And they should hit back,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. 
“Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle East, and they have to behave. They said they would be good, and if they’re good, they’re going to be happy, and if they’re not good, they’re going to be terminated,” he added. 
The night before, as Israel was bombarding civilians in Gaza, Vice President JD Vance said the “ceasefire is holding.”
“That doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be little skirmishes here and there. We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an IDF soldier. We expect the Israelis are going to respond, but I think the president’s peace is going to hold despite it,” he said. 
An Israeli soldier was killed in the southernmost city of Rafah on Tuesday. Israel claimed that resistance snipers shot the soldier in violation of the deal. 
“Hamas affirms that it has no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah and confirms its commitment to the ceasefire agreement. The criminal bombardment carried out by the fascist occupation army on areas of the Gaza Strip constitutes a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement that was signed in Sharm el-Sheikh under the sponsorship of US President Trump,” Hamas said in a statement, calling Israel’s overnight strikes a “terrorist attack.”
Prior to the killing of the soldier, Israel had been accusing Hamas of delaying the release of deceased captives still in Gaza. Hamas has denied this, and the Red Cross has confirmed that locating the remaining captives is extremely difficult due to the amount of rubble. 
International teams have been deployed to Gaza to aid in the search. 
Hamas’s Qassam Brigades announced on Tuesday evening that it located an additional body, but announced postponing the handover due to Israel’s brutal strikes. 
Earlier this week, Hamas handed over a body which Tel Aviv claimed was just more remains of a deceased captive already previously recovered by Israel and buried. 
Last weekend, Israel assassinated several top commanders in Hamas’s Qassam Brigades and killed dozens of civilians. Those strikes came after the killing of two Israeli soldiers in Rafah. 
The Qassam Brigades released a statement saying it had no connection to the incident and had lost contact with its fighters in southern Gaza since March.
According to the Associated Press, two unnamed U.S. officials indicated that Israel notified Washington ahead of launching the latest strikes on the blockaded strip.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) condemned the latest strikes, holding the U.S. administration “fully responsible for the horrific massacre”.
“Recent U.S. statements, particularly those of Trump, justifying the occupation’s crimes under the pretext of ‘self-defense’ and using the language of ‘revenge’ against unarmed civilians and children, constitute political cover, de facto 

legitimization, and a mandate to continue the massacre,” it said. 
“Targeting civilian homes and displaced persons’ tents is a stain on the conscience of humanity.”
As of Tuesday morning, Israel had committed at least 125 violations of the ceasefire agreement since October 11, according to the Gaza-based Government Media Office.
The attacks have killed at least 211 people and wounded nearly 600, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 
Israel has also continued to restrict the entry of aid and has kept the Rafah crossing with Egypt closed, in violation of the deal’s terms.
Overall, Israeli forces killed at least 68,643 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, and wounded over 170,000.
Most of those killed are civilians, according to leaked military data.