Israel has already violated the ceasefire by shooting dead a Palestinian teen in Rafah [Getty]
Israel violated the ceasefire with Hamas on Monday by shooting and killing a Palestinian child returning to his home in Rafah, while aid to the enclave trickles in and civil defence teams recover dozens of bodies.
The 15-year-old was identified as Zakaria Humaid Yahya Barbakh and was shot at by a sniper multiple times before he was killed.
Video footage shared online also showed a man trying to retrieve his body also shot at repeatedly.
This comes as Gaza’s civil defence crews say they recovered 66 more bodies from across Gaza on Monday, since a fragile ceasefire came into effect on 19 January. Before this, 137 bodies were found in Rafah since the start of the truce.
The teams said 57 of the bodies were found in southern Gaza and eight in the north.
Thousands of bodies are believed to be still trapped under the rubble as teams were unable to retrieve or bury them due to heavy Israeli bombardment and complications in trying to reach them.
Now, emergency crews are undertaking efforts to try and identify the dead, some of whom have been trapped under rubble for months.
New aerial footage has revealed the magnitude of destruction in Gaza, particularly in the north which was bombarded while under siege for over three months.
Across Gaza, people have been using the truce to return to their homes and inspect the damage.
Aid trickling in
Aid is also slowly trickling in, with the World Food Programme reiterating that food aid is “pre-positioned and on its way”.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs added that around 915 aid trucks entered Gaza on the second day of the truce.
Around Gaza, telecommunications companies have also started attempting to restore limited operations in the north and south, aiming to restore connection for people following 15 months of intense bombardment.
Qatar, which helped mediate the ceasefire deal, is also supplying Gaza with 1.25 million litres of fuel per day.
However, Hamas said that one Palestinian prisoner who was expected to be released as part of the captive and prisoner exchange deal remains behind bars, Israeli media reported on Monday.
The group added the next batch of Israeli captives will be released on 25 Saturday.
In the first phase of the deal, Hamas is expected to return 33 captives while around 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails are also to be released in return. The second phase of talks will start in two weeks.
The Israeli army also announced on Tuesday that Gaza residents will be allowed to return to the north in around one week if Hamas continues to uphold the terms of the deal.Â
Meanwhile, US President Trump said he was “not confident” that the ceasefire deal would hold.
“Gaza is like a massive demolition site…that’s not our war, it’s their war. But I’m not confident” he said when questioned on whether the two sides would maintain the truce.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 47,035 Palestinians and wounded over 111,091 others since 7 October 2023. The war on the enclave devastated entire neighbourhoods and plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian crisis.
