Published On 28/10/2025
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Last update: 10/29/2025 00:38 (Mecca time)
The attack – which Israel launched on areas in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening – appears to be an attempt to know the limits of the American position, and an attempt to obtain more space to move militarily in light of the ceasefire, as political analysts say.
The occupation army carried out strikes in Gaza City and the central and southern Gaza Strip under the pretext of the resistance carrying out an attack on an Israeli force in the city of Rafah, which was denied by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and confirmed that it had nothing to do with the event that Israel is claiming as an excuse.
These strikes represent Israel’s continued violation of the ceasefire agreement, which the United States says it is willing to implement until the end.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority quoted sources confirming that Israel informed the United States of what it called a response plan to Hamas’ violation of the ceasefire agreement, which was also confirmed by the American CNN.
Yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the agreement does not prevent Israel from defending itself if it deems it necessary, and a source told Al Jazeera – today – that nothing has happened that would necessitate this escalation.
The newspaper “Israel Hayom” quoted an army source as saying that the current strikes would not lead to a return to the war, and international media later reported that senior officials in the White House confirmed Washington’s commitment to stopping the war on Gaza.
Testing the American position
Israeli affairs expert Ihab Jabareen believes that the escalation that occurred this evening is merely an attempt by Benjamin Netanyahu to test the strength of the American position on the ceasefire agreement, and to know the limits of the red lines set for it.
Jabareen told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu – who is wanted by the International Criminal Court – is trying to say that he is moving alone and is not subject to what Washington wants, but he is doing so in a way that does not provoke it.
The goal of this behavior – in Jabareen’s opinion – is to obtain a wider space to move militarily in the Strip without undermining the ceasefire, or within the lines of American commandments imposed on it.
It has become clear that the American position determines Israel’s steps since Netanyahu’s last visit to Washington last September, during which his fires were extinguished, according to Jabareen.
These strikes cannot be separated from the ongoing Israeli violations since the ceasefire took effect, especially since they came after talk of an attack targeting an Israeli force, which the resistance did not talk about, according to the director of the Roya Center for Political Development, Ahmed Al-Atawneh.
It is clear to everyone that Israel does not want to abide by this agreement, and places many obstacles in the way of recovering the bodies of its prisoners, and then launches attacks in response to the non-delivery of these bodies, which gives an early picture of what things might become after the completion of the delivery of these bodies, according to Al-Atawneh.
It is no longer logical to rely on America alone to stop the war, because it is biased towards Israel and supported the genocide committed by the occupation army, and does not take a position on these major violations and justify them, says Al-Atawneh.
This American justification indicates that the United States will continue to justify all the violations, killing, and destruction that Israel will carry out while the agreement is in effect – according to Al-Atawneh – who said that this behavior places a great burden on the mediators, the Palestinian Authority, and all those involved in this file, because the resistance and the residents of Gaza have made their commitments.
Specifically, in Al-Atawneh’s opinion, the mediators must determine the true American position and find out whether the goal is to stop the war or improve Israel’s image, reduce its international isolation, and give it the right to continue the aggression in a different way.
Israeli-American coordination
On the other hand, James Robbins, senior researcher at the American Foreign Policy Council, believes that Israel has the right to respond to any attack, but he says that the issue of recovering bodies does not require escalation because it is related to technical matters and should not undermine the ceasefire.
The response to any violation by Hamas must be proportionate and specific in a way that does not destroy the agreement – as Robbins says – who said that everything Israel does is in coordination with the United States, expressing his belief that the latter does not want Israel to return to war or hinder the progress made in the agreement.
In a practical response to the Israeli escalation, Hamas announced that it would not hand over the body of a prisoner that it was able to find today, in response to this repeated Israeli violation of the ceasefire agreement.