Hamas rejects Rafah blast claim, urges Israel to honor truce deal

Hamas on Wednesday denied any involvement in a blast that struck an Israeli armored vehicle in Rafah, southern Gaza, saying the incident happened in a zone controlled exclusively by the Israeli army. The Palestinian group urged pressure on Israel to implement the ceasefire agreement, stressing that the Rafah explosion should not be used to derail the truce in Gaza.

Israeli response and Hamas rejection

The Israeli military confirmed that an officer was wounded in the explosion, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly blaming Hamas. In response, Hamas said the location was inaccessible to Palestinians and insisted no members of the group were operating there, adding that responsibility could not be attributed to them under the ceasefire terms.

Claims of war remnants

In a statement, Hamas said it had previously warned about unexploded ordnance and other war remnants in Rafah and similar areas. “We bear no responsibility for this zone since the implementation of the ceasefire,” the group said, arguing that the remnants were planted during earlier Israeli operations in Gaza.

Calls to protect the ceasefire

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi echoed the claim on X, saying the blast occurred in an area under Israeli occupation control where Palestinians are barred. Hamas accused Israel of repeated ceasefire violations and cautioned against “manufacturing pretexts” to resume escalation. The truce halted a two-year Israeli war in Gaza that, according to Palestinian authorities, has killed more than 71,000 people and injured over 171,000 since October 2023, while Gaza’s government media office reports hundreds more casualties since the ceasefire began.