The US says Hamas is planning an “imminent” attack on civilians

The US State Department says it has “credible reports” that Hamas is planning an “imminent” attack on civilians in Gaza, which it says would violate the ceasefire agreement.

A statement issued on Saturday said a planned attack on Palestinians would be a “direct and grave” violation of the ceasefire agreement and “undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts”.

The State Department did not provide further details about the attack, and it was unclear what reports it was referring to.

The first phase of the cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel is currently underway – all living hostages have been released, and the bodies of the dead are still being returned to Israel.

Also as part of the agreement, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Washington said it had already informed other guarantors of the Gaza peace deal – which include Egypt, Qatar and Turkey – and asked Hamas to uphold the lifting of the ceasefire conditions.

“If Hamas continues this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire,” the statement said.

Hamas has yet to comment on the statement.

President Donald Trump previously warned Hamas against killing civilians.

“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump said in a Truth Social post earlier this week.

He later clarified that he would not send US troops to Gaza.

Last week, BBC Verify confirmed graphic videos showing a public execution carried out by Hamas gunmen in Gaza.

The videos show several men with guns lining up eight people, their hands tied behind their backs, before killing them in a crowded square.

BBC Verify was unable to confirm the identity of the masked gunmen, although some appeared to be wearing green headbands associated with Hamas.

on saturday Israel said it had received two more bodies from Gaza who Hamas says are hostages, although they have not yet been officially identified.

So far, the remains of 10 of the 28 hostages who died have been returned to Israel.

Separately on Saturday, 11 members of a Palestinian family were killed by an Israeli tank shell, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Civil Defense, in what was the deadliest single incident involving Israeli soldiers in Gaza since the ceasefire began.

The Israeli military said soldiers fired at a “suspicious vehicle” that had crossed the so-called yellow line demarcating the area still occupied by Israeli forces in Gaza.

There are no physical markers on this line and it is unclear if the bus crossed it. The BBC asked the IDF for the coordinates of the incident.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 attack in which Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage.

At least 68,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

In September, a UN commission of inquiry said that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel categorically rejected the report as “distorted and false”.