After a seven-day ceasefire that saw the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners and humanitarian aid, Israel on Friday resumed combat in Gaza. Soon after, Israeli Defence Force (IDF) fighter jets began striking Hamas targets in Gaza.
Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 1, 2023
The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/gVRpctD79R
The end of the truce was evident after Hamas failed to provide Israel by 7 a.m. a list of hostages to be released on Friday. The IDF then claimed that Hamas violated the ceasefire agreement and additionally fired rockets at Israel. In response, it renewed attacks on the Hamas targets in Gaza, the IDF claimed.
Minutes after a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas broke down on Friday, Israeli military vehicles were firing in northwest Gaza, said a statement by Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior in Gaza. It added that the Israeli aircraft were in the skies above the area.
"We're ready for all possibilities. Without that, we're going back to the combat," Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on CNN ahead of the expiry of the truce.
Till Thursday, 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Qatar and Egypt had been leading the negotiations aimed at a fighting pause. Qatar's lead negotiator and career diplomat Abdullah Al Sulaiti, who helped broker the truce through marathon shuttle negotiations, told Reuters obstacles towards achieving a ceasefire. "At the beginning, I thought achieving an agreement would be the most difficult step. I've discovered that sustaining the agreement itself is equally challenging," he added.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Israel, said he warned Netanyahu against repeating in south Gaza the massive civilian casualties and displacement of residents it inflicted in the north. "We discussed the details of Israel's ongoing planning and I underscored the imperative for the United States that the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale that we saw in northern Gaza not be repeated in the south," Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv.
"And the Israeli Government agreed with that approach," he said. "This would include concrete measures to avoid damaging critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water facilities and clearly designating safe zones," Blinken said.
