Baghdad: Israeli aircraft carried out three airstrikes on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza early Sunday, marking the first escalation since the ceasefire agreement came into effect, amid mutual accusations between Israel and Hamas over violations of the truce.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the strikes were carried out “in response to a breach of the ceasefire agreement,” noting that the Israeli army conducted them following an exchange of fire with militants in the area. The channel added that the explosion occurred during engineering works in an area suspected to contain a network of tunnels, targeting a heavy engineering vehicle. The Israeli army accused Hamas of firing an anti-tank missile at the vehicle. Hamas, however, denied responsibility, stating that the military vehicle had struck an old explosive device at the site.