US says Hamas plans ‘imminent’ attack on civilians

The US State Department says it has “credible reports” that Hamas is planning an “imminent” attack on civilians in Gaza, which it says would violate the ceasefire agreement.

A statement released Saturday said a planned attack on the Palestinians would constitute a “direct and serious” violation of the ceasefire agreement and “undermine the significant progress made through mediation efforts.”

The State Department did not provide further details about the attack and it is unclear what reports it was citing.

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel is currently underway: all living hostages have been released and the bodies of the deceased are still being returned to Israel.

As part of the deal, Israel also released 250 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Washington said it had already informed other guarantors of the Gaza peace deal, including Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, and asked Hamas to respect the terms of the ceasefire.

“If Hamas continues this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire,” the statement said.

Hamas has not yet commented on this statement.

President Donald Trump has already warned Hamas against killing civilians.

“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the agreement, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump said in an article on Truth Social earlier this week.

He then clarified that he would not send American troops to Gaza.

Last week, BBC Verify authenticated graphic videos showing a public execution carried out by Hamas gunmen in Gaza.

The videos showed several armed men lining up eight people with their arms tied behind their backs before killing them in a crowded square.

BBC Verify could not confirm the identities of the masked gunmen, although some appeared to be wearing the green headbands associated with Hamas.

On Saturday, Israel said it had received two more bodies from Gaza that Hamas says are hostages, although they have not yet been formally identified.

So far, the remains of 10 of the 28 deceased hostages have been returned to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would remain closed until Hamas returns the remaining bodies.

The Rafah crossing is a vital gateway for Palestinians who need medical assistance to leave Gaza and for the return of thousands more.

Separately, on Saturday, 11 members of a Palestinian family were killed by an Israeli tank shell, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defense Ministry, in what was the deadliest incident involving Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the ceasefire began.

The Israeli army said soldiers fired at a “suspicious vehicle” that crossed the so-called yellow line demarcating the area still occupied by Israeli forces in Gaza.

There is no physical marker of this line and it is unclear whether the bus crossed it. The BBC asked the IDF for coordinates of the incident.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage.

Since then, at least 68,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

In September, a UN commission of inquiry declared that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel categorically rejected the report, calling it “distorted and false.”