Hamas Rejects Blame for Rafah Blast
The truce, mediated by the US, came into force on October 10 and required Israeli troops to withdraw from parts of Gaza while Hamas released the final 20 Israeli hostages in exchange for roughly 2,000 Palestinian detainees.
The announcement followed a report from the IDF that one of its officers had been injured in the Rafah blast. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of orchestrating the attack, but the group countered that the incident occurred in territory fully controlled by Israel’s defense forces, where “no Palestinians are present.”
In a Telegram post on Wednesday, Hamas emphasized that leftover munitions from previous battles posed ongoing dangers, asserting they “bear no responsibility for any of these incidents since the ceasefire agreement came into effect,” particularly concerning “explosives planted by the occupation itself in the area.”
The organization urged Israel to comply with the truce and “refrain from fabricating excuses to escalate and undermine the truce,” reiterating its commitment to the accord.
Senior Hamas representative Mahmoud Mardawi also wrote on X that he believed the Rafah detonation was caused by unexploded ordnance from earlier clashes. Netanyahu, however, seized on the event to argue that Hamas “has no plan to disarm,” a central condition of the ceasefire, warning that “Israel will respond accordingly.”
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