Israel says ceasefire and aid to resume after airstrikes kill 26 in Gaza

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The Israeli military said on Sunday that a ceasefire in Gaza had resumed after an attack that killed two of its soldiers and prompted a wave of airstrikes that killed 26 people, in the most serious test yet of this month's U.S.-brokered truce.

Aid into the enclave was set to resume on Monday following U.S. pressure, an Israeli security source said, shortly after Israel announced a halt in supplies in response to what it said was a "blatant" violation by Hamas of the truce.

The Israeli strikes killed at least 26 people in Gaza, including at least one woman and one child, according to local residents and health authorities.

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected to travel to Israel on Monday, an Israeli official and a U.S. official said.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas targets across the enclave, including field commanders, gunmen, a tunnel and weapons depots, after militants launched an anti-tank missile and fired on its troops, killing the soldiers.

At least one strike hit a former school sheltering displaced people in the area of Nuseirat, residents said.

The armed wing of Hamas said it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement, was unaware of clashes in Rafah, and had not been in contact with groups there since March.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to respond forcefully to what he described as Hamas' violations of the ceasefire.

An Israeli security official had said that the transfer of aid into Gaza had been...

As long as articles keep appearing around Israeli genocide and IDF killing of civilians I’ll keep posting this piece of reality about civilian deaths in warfare. The very fact Hamas and Hezbollah say they can count the number killed means these people were within the boundaries of their control. Any realistic appraisal of their behavior would see they consider civilians as so many biodegradable sandbags possessing utility as political props.

The idea of “bringing terrorists to justice” is a breathtaking mockery of any civilized understanding of justice. All four Geneva Accords deal with terrorist organizations and they find no sanctuary anywhere. The feral psychopaths of Hamas and Hezbollah never display the civility required for Geneva Convention definitions for militia, armed force, or volunteer corps, but are so dissociated from country or culture, so committed to butchery that they best match Webster’s definition for a virus. They are not insurgents or freedom fighters, and when captured, certainly not prisoners of war. These killers are not members of an organized resistance movement carrying arms openly, and they have no distinctive identifier. The Geneva Conventions place terrorists beyond the pale, discuss no limits in dealing with their depredations. So, their eradication would come closest to achieving meaningful justice.

The Geneva Conventions, which attempt to grasp rational, moral threads to apply during wars’ barbarity formed the basis for our operations. For my Navy experience helping to pulverize a major enemy base in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, I especially liked the obvious reading of Articles 28 and 29 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The VC were responsible for any civilian deaths in the base our ship shelled. Those civilians qualified as Protected Persons within the enemy’s physical control and could not be used to render certain points and areas immune from military operations. The Convention articles are as follows:

ART. 28. — The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.

ART. 29. — The Party to the conflict in whose hands protected persons may be, is responsible for the treatment accorded to them by its agents, irrespective of any individual responsibility which may be incurred.

The passages furnished the basis for rules of engagement we followed when attacking a legitimate military target. The base the SEAL team identified in the U Minh Forest had been continuously used at least since the Vietnamese had fought the Japanese, so families of the VC would have been residents as well. Distance provided me with the blessing of avoiding the cleanup afterwards for the mess I helped create with our 445 rounds of 3”50cal. However, I am certain our task force was effective. We helped to permanently shatter the last intact VC main force unit, forcing it to surrender control the region.

Seems Hamas has difficulty keeping its story consistent.

“Media outlets affiliated with Hamas in Gaza report that the operation carried out by Hamas in eastern Rafah earlier today was intended to target Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a militia operating with Israeli support in the area.

The militia is located in a zone under Israeli control, according to the ceasefire agreement.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-hamas-claims-it-was-targeting-israeli-backed-militia-

So just a pure accident they killed two Israeli soldiers. /s

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