Heavy fighting has erupted in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli army resumed combat operations against Hamas after efforts to extend the truce failed.
The resumption of hostilities took place on Friday around 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT), as the deadline for the end of the week-long break had passed.
Israeli airstrikes were reported across the enclave, including in the south, which was previously considered safe for fleeing civilians.
Gaza’s health ministry said dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured during the initial resumption of Israeli strikes.
Reports of rocket and gunfire had emerged an hour before the temporary truce expired. Israel said Hamas had violated the agreement.
Efforts to extend the pause were underway. There was no comment from the Qatari mediator, but according to reports, talks between the Qatari and Egyptian mediators are continuing.
“Hamas violated the operational pause and further fired towards Israeli territory,” the Israeli military said in a statement. post on Friday. “The IDF has resumed the fight against the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza. »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas had not agreed to release more hostages, violating the terms of the truce. Hamas has not yet responded.
“With the resumption of fighting, we emphasize: the Israeli government is determined to achieve the goals of the war – freeing our hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza will never pose a threat to the residents of Israel,” the statement said. Netanyahu’s office. said.
“What Israel did not achieve in the fifty days preceding the truce, it will not achieve by continuing its aggression after the truce,” a Hamas statement said.
Intense bombardment
There are now reports of heavy Israeli fire and bombardment in northern, central and southern Gaza, Tel Aviv Tribune journalists in the enclave reported, saying planes and drones could be heard overhead. above their heads.
“The Gaza Strip is under heavy artillery and even aerial bombardment from the (Israeli) occupying forces,” Tel Aviv Tribune’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said from Khan Younis in southern Gaza. “In the coming hours, we could see a sharp increase in the number of Israeli strikes on the territory. »
Our correspondent reported that in the north, a residential building was destroyed in the Jabalia refugee camp; in central Gaza, tanks shelled near the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps; and to the south, a house in Rafah was completely destroyed.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 21 people were killed as Israel resumed attacks, including two in the north, seven in central Gaza and 12 in the south.
“Currently, sounds of Israeli explosions can be heard in the south, an area that Israeli authorities had recommended as safe for civilians to flee,” Abu Azzoum said.
“This (resumption of fighting) offers the Palestinians only one option: to live again under Israeli bombardments which will destroy all means of life inside the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Israeli forces dropped leaflets in Khan Younis warning civilians to evacuate south towards Rafah, on the border with Egypt. The town was also targeted by Israeli air raids on Friday.
“People are asking, ‘Where should we go?’ Gaza is not prepared for all this,” said journalist Hind Khoudary, reporting from Khan Younis.
The evacuation warnings suggest that Israel is now planning to target more areas of the southern Gaza Strip after focusing the bulk of its bombing on the north of the enclave in the weeks leading up to the truce.
The seven-day pause in fighting, which began on November 24 and was extended twice, allowed the exchange of dozens of hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and facilitated the entry of humanitarian aid in the destroyed coastal strip.
During the truce, Hamas released 110 prisoners, including 80 Israelis. In exchange, Israel released 240 Palestinians, including women and children, many of whom have been administratively detained for months without charge. However, during the same period, Israel arrested almost as many Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as it released.
The pause also allowed desperately needed aid to arrive in the enclave, although supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel remain insufficient for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.