Ceasefire in question as Israel accused of over 400 Gaza truce violations in 44 days

Israel has been accused of violating the United States-brokered Gaza ceasefire at least 497 times in 44 days, killing hundreds of Palestinians since the truce came into effect on 10 October, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

Al Jazeera in a news article published on Saturday, quoting the media office said 342 civilians had been killed in the alleged violations, with children, women and the elderly making up the majority of the victims.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the continued serious and systematic violations of the ceasefire agreement by the Israeli occupation authorities,” it said, adding that 27 breaches were recorded on Saturday alone, resulting in 24 deaths and 87 injuries.

The media office said Israel bore “full responsibility” for the humanitarian and security consequences arising from its actions, accusing it of heavily restricting the free flow of aid and medical supplies into the devastated enclave in breach of the agreement.

Despite the six-week-old ceasefire, the Israeli military launched a new wave of air attacks across Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 24 Palestinians, including children.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strikes were carried out after a Hamas fighter attacked Israeli soldiers inside Gaza’s so-called yellow line, an unmarked boundary where Israeli forces repositioned themselves under the ceasefire terms.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas on the alleged attack.

Local authorities in northern Gaza said dozens of Palestinian families have been “besieged” as Israeli forces repositioned deeper into the enclave, in what they described as a further breach of the agreement. The yellow line arrangement has allowed Israel to maintain control over more than half of the territory and, according to Palestinian officials, to continue firing at civilians approaching the area.

Hamas accused Israel of violating the deal “under fabricated pretexts” and called on mediators, the US, Egypt and Qatar, to intervene urgently. The group said Israeli forces had pushed westward beyond the yellow line and were attempting to alter the boundary defined in the agreement.

“We call upon the mediators to intervene urgently and exert pressure to immediately halt these violations,” the group said. “We also demand that the US administration fulfil its commitments and compel [Israel] to implement its obligations, and to confront its attempts to undermine the ceasefire in Gaza.”

Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq also rejected reports by Saudi Arabia-owned Al Arabiya claiming the group had called off the ceasefire. “Israel is fabricating pretexts to evade the agreement and return to the war of annihilation, while it is the one violating the agreement daily and systematically,” he told the Quds News Network.