Israel: Hamas Violated Ceasefire by Hitting Attacking Israeli Troops

Israeli Troops Were Raiding Tunnels During Truce

The narrative surrounding Hamas being to first to “violate” the 72-hour ceasefire is taking a strange turn today, with Israel claiming that their own ground troops were in the process of attacking a Hamas tunnel when they were “attacked” by the Hamas fighters inside that same tunnel.

Among the attackers, according to the Israeli military, was a suicide bomber, who killed two Israeli soldiers. A third soldier was reportedly “captured” by other Hamas fighters, though since those fighters died in Israeli shelling it is unclear if the Israeli soldier survived.

Hamas, for their part, reported the ceasefire was actually violated by Israeli tanks before the tunnel clash, when they opened fire in southern Gaza, killing four people including a Reuters photographer.

Israel seems to be basing their own “Hamas violated first” story on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s promise to keep attacking tunnels with or without a ceasefire, implying that the attacks on the tunnels shouldn’t be a surprise and shouldn’t themselves count as a violation.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.