DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 21 Palestinians, including two infants, and further rocking a fragile ceasefire deal, hospital officials said. Israel said it was responding to a militant attack on Israeli soldiers that seriously wounded one.

An Israeli court has indicted a brother of the chief of Israel’s security service on charges of smuggling tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes into war-ravaged Gaza Strip at a time when getting aid into the territory is difficult and many Palestinians go hungry.

The Hamas terrorist who murdered surveillance soldier Corporal Noa Marciano while she was held captive in Gaza has been eliminated, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Wednesday.

Gaza medical officials say Israeli strikes killed at least 19 people, including two infants, with one hospital director asking, "Where is the ceasefire?"

According to the Southern District Attorney’s Office, this was an “organized, systematic, and sophisticated smuggling operation of various goods into the Gaza Strip in exchange for financial gain.”

Gaza’s government urged its more than 40,000 civil servants and security personnel to cooperate with the Palestinian technocratic body with U.S. oversight that is meant to exclude Hamas.

Hamas laying down its weapons is a key requirement under Donald Trump's plan to end ​the Gaza war. It calls for Israel's military to withdraw troops as Hamas disarms and for Gaza's reconstruction to be overseen by a "Board of Peace" chaired by the U.S. President.

Zini, along with others, was charged with aiding the enemy during wartime, prohibited dealings in property for terror purposes, obtaining something by aggravated fraud, and accepting bribes.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal says he was sexually abused by one of his captors in the tunnels of Gaza and threatened with death if he said anything.

The IDF released footage showing armed operatives transporting the weapons via ambulance, which was recorded during routine drone sweeps along the Strip's Yellow Line. Hamas operatives have repeatedly used emergency vehicles in Gaza to transport weapons from a hospital to a school,