Israeli hard-liner Itamar Ben-Gvir is pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scrap the truce between their troops and Hamas due to a skirmish in northern Gaza on Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces said three explosive devices were detonated in two different locations while in one of those locations, terrorists also opened fire at the nearby troops. A "number of soldiers were lightly injured during the incidents," the IDF's statement said, while Hamas accused Israel of a “clear violation … of the truce agreement,” calling the clash a “field skirmish."
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Israel and Hamas had initially agreed to a four-day ceasefire that included the release of about 50 hostages, only women and children, held by Hamas in Gaza since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks that sparked the war in exchange for a surge in humanitarian aid and the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Both sides agreed to extend the truce by two days on Monday.
During the pause in fighting, the first since the war began, Hamas has released 69 of the roughly 240 hostages it's holding, while Israel has released 150 Palestinian detainees.
"Hamas has now tried to murder IDF soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip," Ben-Gvir said on X, formerly Twitter. "I call on the Prime Minister not to 'contain' the explosion of explosive devices used against our soldiers, and to order the IDF to return and crush Hamas with force. We must not wait until our fighters are killed. We must once again act in accordance with the goal of the war: the total destruction of Hamas."
Ben-Gvir, the country's national security minister, is a part of the hard-right wing of the coalition that allowed Netanyahu to return to power prior to the war.
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Israel and Hamas agreed to extend the ceasefire by two days, the Qatari government announced on Monday. During the additional two days, 20 hostages currently held by Hamas will be released, according to U.S. officials. Even with the additional hostages who will be released, there will still be more than 100 people believed to be held in Gaza.
A senior Biden administration official said on Monday that they would "like the current humanitarian pause deal extended as long as possible," adding, "the formula is every 10 hostages, you get an additional day of the pause. So, we would like to see that going as long as there are additional hostages to get out."