(MENAFN- Live Mint) United States Vice President JD Vance has asserted that the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel“is holding” despite the skirmishes. Vance's remarks came after Israel launched air strikes on Gaza over alleged attack on its troops.“The ceasefire is holding. That doesn't mean that there aren't going to be little skirmishes here and there,” Vance said.

Speaking of the“skirmishes,” Vance said that an IDF soldier was attacked so the United States expects retaliation from the Israelis.

“We know that Hamas or somebody else within Gaza attacked an (Israeli military) soldier. We expect the Israelis are going to respond, but I think the President's peace is going to hold despite that,” he said.

The US-brokered ceasefire agreement went into effect on October 10, halting two years of war that was triggered by deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and that has devastated the narrow coastal strip. Both sides have accused each other of ceasefire violations.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israel launched airstrikes despite an active ceasefire after the authorities alleged that Hamas violated the truce by attacking its troops.

After the strikes, Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli air strike on a vehicle in the south of the territory killed five people.

“At least five [were killed] in an Israeli strike on a civilian vehicle on Al-Qassam Street in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency, told AFP.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered“powerful strikes” on Gaza after alleging that Hamas had violated the ceasefire. Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Hamas of attacking its troops in Gaza.

“The terrorist organisation Hamas will pay a heavy price for attacking IDF soldiers in Gaza and for violating the agreement to return the bodies of the hostages,” Israel Katz said in a statement.

“Hamas's attack today on IDF soldiers in Gaza is a crossing of a bright red line, to which the IDF will respond with great force.”

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Hamas has, however, denied attacking the Israeli troops in Gaza, as it also affirmed its commitment to the agreement with Israel to cease war and exchange the prisoners and hostages.

In a statement, the group said,“Hamas affirms that it has no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah and affirms its commitment to the ceasefire agreement.”

(With agency inputs)

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