Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has ordered the army to immediately carry out “powerful strikes” in Gaza, and Hamas has responded by saying it will delay handing over the body of a hostage, putting new pressure on the tenuous US-brokered ceasefire.

The order from Netanyahu on Tuesday (Israeli time) followed heightened tensions, as Israel reported Hamas firing on its forces in southern Gaza, and Hamas returned a set of remains that Israel said belonged to a hostage recovered earlier in the war.

Hamas militants carry a white bag believed to contain a body, after retrieving it from a tunnel during a search for the remains of hostages in Hamad City, Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. Credit: AP

Netanyahu called the return a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agr

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