Since the October truce took effect, Gaza’s health and government media offices say at least 97 Palestinians have been killed and some 230 wounded, while Israeli forces are accused of roughly 80 violations of the agreement.

The casualties, many civilians, underscore that the “pause” has offered Gazans only precarious respite amid ruined neighborhoods and overwhelmed hospitals.

Central to the renewed violence was an explosion in Rafah that Tel Aviv initially presented as an attack by Hamas — a justification used to halt crossings and launch retaliatory strikes.

Multiple reporting threads, however, reached a different conclusion: sources contacted by Drop Site News and other journalists say U.S. officials in the White House and Pentagon concluded the blast was caused when Israeli heavy equipment — a settler-operated bulldozer or an Israeli tank during demolition work — struck unexploded ordnance or an IED likely left in the ground for months.

Curt Mills from The American Conservative quoted a senior U.S. official: “Hamas did nothing. Israeli tank hit an unexploded IED.”

Those accounts directly contradict initial Israeli claims and expose how fast misattribution can be used to justify renewed bombardment.

President Donald Trump publicly claimed the ceasefire “is still in effect” and called for calm even as U.S. envoys scrambled to defuse the fallout; behind closed doors, Washington’s assessments appear to have pushed Israel to reopen crossings hours after they were closed.

The backdrop is grim: more than two years of war have left Gaza devastated, with UN agencies warning of expanding famine and a death toll measured in tens of thousands.

Even when guns fall quiet, unexploded ordnance and collapsed infrastructure make reconstruction and humanitarian relief deadly work — a reminder that without a durable and enforced truce, civilian suffering will continue regardless of public rhetoric.