Air strikes, heavy shelling and casualties have been recorded as Israel Military resumes the war against Hamas after efforts to extend the truce failed.
According to Aljazeera, the resumption of hostilities came at about 7am local time (05:00 GMT) on Friday, as the deadline for the end of the week-long pause is elapsed.
Gaza’s health ministry stated that dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured during the initial resumption of Israeli strikes.
Earlier, reports of rockets and gunfire had emerged in the hour before the temporary truce expired with Israel claiming that Hamas had violated the agreement.
Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory. The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza.” the Israeli army said in a post on X on Friday
Also, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas did not agree to release further hostages, and as such infringing the terms of the truce.
“With the resumption of fighting we emphasise: The Israeli government is committed to achieving the goals of the war – to free our hostages, to eliminate Hamas, and to ensure that Gaza will never pose a threat to the residents of Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Responding, Hamas said in a statement “What Israel did not achieve during the fifty days before the truce, it will not achieve by continuing its aggression after the truce,”
An initial four day truce deal plus addition two day deal has seen exchanges of hostages and prisoners between both sides of the war.
Efforts to extend the pause had been ongoing and reports have it that talks between Qatari and Egyptian mediators are continuing.
Source: Aljazeera