The Trump administration’s Gaza ceasefire lasted less than a week.

More than a dozen Palestinians were killed on Sunday in what the Israeli military described as retaliatory strikes against militants who targeted IDF positions in southern Gaza.

As ever, it was impossible to discern whose account most closely approximated reality. Even saying that assumes the existence of an objective reality, an assumption which gets more tenuous by the year.

Israel claims terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at soldiers operating just outside Rafah, and then engaged them with small arms. It wasn’t clear the militants in question were in fact Hamas fighters, and indeed Israel didn’t specifically say as much.

This is a free-for-all in the monochromatic wreckage of a failed statelet. If you’re standing around in the rubble, there’s a decent chance you’ll be shot at. If you’re standing around wearing an Israeli military uniform, you’re almost guaranteed to be shot at and when it happens, there won’t be any way to discern who shot at you. Sure, it could’ve been Hamas. But it might’ve been Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Or just a Palestinian waging an Islamic jihad. Or a child pissed off at having lost his mother in an airstrike. Or an old woman just plain old pissed off. Or a disgruntled donkey.

“[We are] unaware of any events or clashes taking place in the Rafah area,” someone from Hamas’s crippled military command structure said, noting that the group lost touch with their compatriots in the city over the summer. The politburo in Doha said Israel was using the incident as a “flimsy pretext” for new strikes.

And strike they did. The IDF promptly incinerated at least seven locals for every Israeli soldier killed, and that counts as restraint. The overall Palestinian-Israeli death toll ratio inclusive of the Israelis killed in the October 7 attacks is more than 50:1.

Sunday’s bombing wasn’t confined to the area where two Israeli soldiers lost their lives. No, the IDF bombed from the southern tip of the enclave to the far north in Beit Lahia, where six guys with three guns between them had the audacity to step over a ceasefire line. The video below was released by the IDF. It includes helpful captions which silently narrate the action.

You’ll be forgiven for emitting a wry chuckle at the suicidal futility on display. “Come on guys, let’s dress up in dark-colored outfits and ambush those Israeli tanks over there.” “I don’t know Ibrahim, are you sure? We’ve only got three rifles between us.” “Yeah, if we split up we can probably take ’em.”

In a short statement, the IDF explained what happened. “Several armed terrorists were identified approaching IDF forces operating in the Beit Lahia area behind the yellow line,” the military said. “In accordance with the ceasefire agreement, the terrorists were struck after crossing the yellow line.”

So, you know, don’t cross the yellow line. A yellow toe is a tagged toe.

The stepped-up violence came as the Trump administration warned Hamas against additional executions. The group’s in the process of reestablishing dominance following the pullback of Israeli troops. Last week, they carried out summary killings of would-be rivals to the chagrin of an international community in the awkward position of having to choose between countenancing genocide or… well, or countenancing genocide. (Remember: Yahya Sinwar made his name killing and torturing his own people as a Hamas enforcer.)

Amid Sunday’s melee, Israel suspended humanitarian aid to Gaza. As The New York Times explained, citing an unnamed Israeli official, “the aid was halted because of the intensity of the Israeli strikes, and was expected to resume once the bombing was over.”

That’s, um, ironic to put it mildly. “Yes, we cut off the flow of food, water and medicine to Gazans, but only because we had to bomb them. Once we finish bombing, we’ll get the aid flowing again.”

Both sides said they’re still committed to Donald Trump’s ceasefire agreement.