Axios: Israeli PM orders Gaza strike without Trump's approval

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu probably did not coordinate with US President Donald Trump his decision to launch a strike on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, October 28. This was reported by the media Axios with reference to unnamed interlocutors among Israeli officials.

Israel accused Hamas of violating the agreement, in particular, of opening fire on its forces in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Prior to this incident, Netanyahu had already consulted with Israel's military leadership about taking new military action in Gaza due to Hamas' alleged violations of the ceasefire agreement related to the return of hostage bodies.

Israeli officials tell Axios that Netanyahu tried to contact Trump, who is in East Asia, to get the green light for a military response.

But the events in Rafah may have changed Netanyahu's calculations. There is no indication that they spoke before the Israeli prime minister issued a statement announcing the new strikes.

The media writes that earlier the Israeli military released a 15-minute drone video that allegedly shows Hamas militants staging the discovery of a hostage's body.

The footage shows a group of people throwing a body bag into a hole, covering it with rubble, bringing in a bulldozer, and then returning with Red Cross representatives, apparently to show that the body had been "dug up." Israeli officials argued that the video proves that Hamas was only pretending to conduct a sophisticated search operation.

"They are violating the agreement, deceiving and mocking both Israel and the Trump administration," said one of the interlocutors.

On Tuesday, before the Rafah incident, Israel provided a video to the White House and the US Central Intelligence Agency, claiming it was a violation of the agreement and saying it was ready to respond.

However, senior Trump administration officials told Netanyahu's team that they did not consider this a significant violation of the agreement by Hamas and urged Israel not to take drastic measures that could push the ceasefire to the brink of failure, a U.S. official told Axios.

• On October 13, Trump in Egypt signed a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. On the same day, Hamas released 20 live Israeli hostages in two stages: first seven, then 13 more. On October 14, Trump announced the start of the second phase of the plan.
• On October 26, US President gave Hamas two days to return the bodies of the dead hostages.