US President Donald Trump said that Washington will investigate and deal "properly" with ceasefire violations between Israel and the radical Palestinian movement Hamas.
“We will investigate exactly what is going on. We want to make sure that everything is extremely peaceful with Hamas. The Hamas leadership may not be involved and these are dissident elements in the movement, but one way or another we will deal with this properly“, the US leader said on board his plane while returning to Washington from Florida.
Trump added that further steps on the issue are “under consideration“.
Earlier state-run Kan TV reported that US Vice President Jay D. Vance and US presidential envoy Stephen Witkoff are expected to visit Israel this week.
On October 19, the Israeli military announced a ceasefire violation by Palestinian militants, reporting an incident near the southern enclave town of Rafah, where Israeli soldiers were fired upon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas for the ceasefire violation and ordered the military to "take action" against the militants.
The military then launched a series of strikes across the enclave, hitting dozens of targets. The military later said that two soldiers had been killed and another seriously wounded in the early morning incident in Rafah.
Hamas officials denied any connection to the Rafah incident.