“Israel is working extremely hard to blow up this ceasefire,” said one observer after IDF troops shot dead Palestinians trying to return to their homes in the largely flattened strip.

Israeli occupation forces killed numerous Palestinian civilians in  Gaza on Tuesday in an apparent violation of a ceasefire that Israel’s Government said it would continue to break by blocking the full flow of aid into the obliterated coastal strip until Hamas returns all bodies of hostages taken two years ago.

Gaza officials told international media outlets that  Israel Defence Forces troops shot dead at least nine unarmed Palestinians trying to return to their homes in northern Gaza City and southern Khan Younis. The bodies of six victims were reportedly brought to al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, while three other victims were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Witnesses described the killings as unprovoked. An IDF spokesperson  acknowledged that five Palestinians were killed, claiming that they came too close to Israeli troops by crossing the so-called “Yellow Line” established as part of last week’s  ceasefire agreement, a contentious demarcation that leaves more than half of Gaza under the control of occupation forces.

“The IDF calls on Gaza residents to follow its instructions and not to approach the troops deployed in the area,” the IDF spokesperson said.

Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the fragile ceasefire.

Israel claimed the Palestinian political and resistance group breached the US-brokered truce by withholding the bodies of Israeli and other hostages who died or were killed in captivity. Hamas — which has turned over eight of the 28 hostages’ bodies it held — previously and repeatedly warned that it would take time to locate and transport all of the remains amid the ruins of an annihilated Gaza.

Hamas, meanwhile, called Israel’s announcement on Tuesday, that it would slash by half the already inadequate humanitarian aid allowed to enter through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a “blatant breach” of the ceasefire. Hamas urged international mediators such as the US, Egypt and Qatar to help enforce the ceasefire agreement, warning that Israel’s continued violations risked blowing up the tenuous truce.

During the last Gaza ceasefire — which lasted from January-March 2025 — United Nations officials said Israel violated the agreement more than 1000 times before scrapping the deal and ramping up its genocide.

US President  Donald Trump on Tuesday pressured Hamas to quickly turn over all remaining hostages’ bodies and lay down its arms,  saying that “if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them, and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently".

Hamas disarmament is a non-negotiable part of Trump’s  20-point plan for ending Israel’s two-year genocidal assault and siege on Gaza, during which more than 247,000 Palestinians —  including at least 64,000 children — were killed or maimed or are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble. Around two million Palestinians were also forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened during the war. However, senior Hamas officials have rejected the disarmament demand out of hand.

On Monday, Hamas  freed 20 Israeli captives it had held since the 7 October 2023 attack in exchange for Israel’s release of nearly 2000 Palestinians it imprisoned.

While Hamas says logistical barriers are behind its slow return of hostage bodies, critics accused Israel of deliberately trying to destroy the ceasefire.

“Israel is working extremely hard to blow up this ceasefire, now reneging on promises to surge humanitarian aid by saying Hamas has been too slow in finding all the bodies of hostages (which mediators were clear would take some time, for obvious reasons),” US investigative journalist Ryan Grim said on Tuesday on social media.

His Drop Site News co-founder, Jeremy Scahill,  said on X that “during Gaza negotiations, Israel understood it would take time to recover all bodies of deceased captives. A specific mechanism for recovering the bodies was agreed".

“Now Israel is pretending that didn’t happen,” he added, “so it can violate the deal and cut the agreed aid shipments in half.”

Republished from Common Dreams, 14 October 2025

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.