Israel said it’s re-enforcing a ceasefire in Gaza, after conducting a series of air strikes overnight that threatened to upend a U.S.-brokered deal less than a month after it was put in place.

The Tuesday offensive — which followed Israeli accusations of a Hamas attack on its soldiers — was the most serious flare up in hostilities since the signing of a truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in mid-October. President Donald Trump has touted that deal as the first phase of a roadmap to stabilize the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave and other regional fronts.

Trump defended Israel’s strikes earlier on Wednesday and said he was confident the ceasefire would remain in place.

“The Israelis hit back, and they should hit back,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in South Korea after a visit to Japan.

A collapse of the truce would be a major blow for Trump, who has taken credit for the deal and said repeatedly it will hold up. He’s boasted that it will end hundreds of years of conflict in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday ordered “forceful strikes” against Hamas, in response to the death of a soldier in an ambush. Strikes on Gaza killed 104 people, including 42 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement Wednesday that dozens of Hamas commanders were eliminated in the assault.

Hamas has disavowed attacks on troops within the areas in Gaza Strip that remain under Israeli army control — just over 50% of the territory — and reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire. Trump last week blamed an attack on Israeli troops on “rogue elements.”

Trump said “nothing” is going to jeopardize the truce, adding that Hamas is only “a very small part of peace in the Middle East.”

“They said they would be good, and if they’re good, they’re going to be happy,” he said, repeating a threat of all-out military action against Hamas: “And if they’re not good, they’re going to be terminated. Their lives will be terminated.”

In the few weeks since it began, the fragile ceasefire has mostly held, even if the deal has faced tests. Among them is Hamas’ failure to return bodies of hostages who had died in captivity after being taken in the October 2023 attack which triggered the war. The group returned all remaining living hostages in the days after the truce was signed.

Israel accuses the Iran-backed group of intentionally stalling the process to avoid disarming and ceding all power, as envisioned by the second phase of Trump’s plan. Hamas blames the delays on the lack of the necessary equipment to identify and retrieve bodies buried under tons of rubble.

Netanyahu may order troops to move beyond the yellow line — to which the army had fallen back as part of the truce — to pen Hamas in further, Israeli media reported. Asked about such plans a spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office said a decision had not been made.

Trump reiterated that Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union, must lay down its weapons.

“If they don’t behave, they get taken out,” Trump said.

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—With assistance from Daniel Ten Kate and Justin Sink.

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