2023-12-02 05:01:00
Israel and Hamas resumed fighting this Friday after the expiration of the one-week truce, with accusations crossed between the sides for the resumption of hostilities and calls from the international community for a new humanitarian cessation.
“Hamas violated the operational pause,” the Israeli army said in a statement, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted a rocket launched from Gaza in the morning, the first since the beginning of the truce, the November 24.
Hamas blamed Israel by stating that its authorities rejected all offers to continue the process of releasing the kidnapped people in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
“There were negotiations throughout the night to extend the truce, in which the movement offered to exchange prisoners and elderly people. It also offered to hand over the bodies of hostages killed by Israeli bombing, including the bodies of members of the Bibas family, as well as freeing his father so that he could participate in the funerals,” Hamas said, according to information from the Palestinian Maan news agency.
The group had announced on Wednesday the death of the 10-month-old Argentine baby Kfir Bibas, his four-year-old brother Ariel and his mother Sherry Silverman, who had been kidnapped along with the father of the family during the incursion into Israeli territory.
Crossfire
The Israeli Army reported in a statement that it attacked some 200 Hamas targets in both the north and south of the Gaza Strip, including Khan Younis and Rafah. “We attacked areas where there were booby traps, terrorist tunnels, launch sites and operational command centers designated by Hamas for use in the renewed fighting,” he said.
Meanwhile, alarms about rockets launched from Gaza rang repeatedly in Israeli border communities, most of them evacuated, and in the center of the country; launches that were claimed by the Al Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, and the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
The Strip has recorded more than 15,000 deaths since the war began, in addition to some 7,000 people buried under the rubble. The Gaza Ministry of Health indicated in a brief message on its Facebook social network account that 178 people died and another 589 were injured after the return of fighting. Among the dead are three journalists, bringing the number of reporters killed since the start of the war to 73. “Medical teams are dealing with a large number of wounded after the end of the truce and new bombings against civilians. The wounded are lying on the floor of the emergency services and in front of the operating rooms, due to the accumulation of cases,” added the wallet.
An Israeli Army spokesman confirmed that five people kidnapped by Hamas died, while the Government estimated that there are still 132 hostages in Gaza, including about 11 foreigners. Since the beginning of the conflict, 110 kidnapped people have already been released, 105 of them during the truce. The majority were Israeli women and minors, and a dozen of them were Argentine. In exchange, Israel freed 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Egypt maintains urgent contacts with Israel and Hamas in coordination with Qatar, another key mediator, to restore the humanitarian truce, Egyptian security sources reported on condition of anonymity. “The mediators intensified their contacts with both during the night, to extend the truce for at least two more days with the same conditions for the exchange of prisoners between the parties and the entry of humanitarian aid and fuel to the Gaza Strip,” they stated. .
The humanitarian situation
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, an entry point for humanitarian aid, is closed due to the resumption of attacks, the United Nations (UN) reported. “With the resumption of war, we fear that the continuation of the supply of humanitarian aid is in doubt. The Rafah checkpoint is closed. We need the resumption of the humanitarian truce and not a return to war,” the spokesman said of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke.
The spokesperson added that during the week of ceasefire, thousands of tons of food, blankets and mattresses, bottled water, medicine and fuel were delivered to shelters, hospitals and warehouses of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East. (UNRWA) in northern Gaza, the epicenter of the fighting. About 88 percent of that assistance was provided by the Palestinian Red Crescent, which received 1,132 trucks.
Health spokesperson Ashraf al Qidra highlighted that the temporary truce did not fully help the health system of the Palestinian territory. “The reality of the health system in Gaza and the north of the Strip is absolutely catastrophic because the main hospitals are out of service,” he said. “We need to ensure the delivery of medical supplies and fuel to all hospitals in Gaza,” he said.
The UN children’s agency (UNICEF) criticized the resumption of fighting. “Today those in power decided that the killing of children in Gaza would resume,” said James Elder, a spokesman for Unicef in a video conference from Gaza to journalists in Geneva. “The humanitarian situation in the Strip is so dangerous that anything is not sustained peace and large-scale emergency aid will mean catastrophe for children,” he added.
The border with Lebanon
Meanwhile, at least three people were killed in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon. According to the Lebanese National News Agency (ANN), an attack hit a house in the town of Al Jabayn in the afternoon, causing the death of one person and wounding three others, who had to be transferred to hospitals in the city. shooting.
The media also reported a bombing against another house located in the village of Hula, where Nasifa Mazraani and her son Mohammad died, the latter a member of Hezbollah, a group that had also adhered to the truce despite not being part of the negotiations. between Hamas and Israel.
Hezbollah claimed five attacks against military targets in northern Israel, which for its part confirmed an operation against a suspected terrorist cell in Lebanon, in addition to artillery fire in response to previous launches from the other side. The Israeli Army also announced this afternoon that it attacked infrastructure belonging to the Shiite group with fighters, helicopters and artillery.
From October 8 until the beginning of the cessation of hostilities on November 24, Hezbollah and Israel were engaged in crossfire across the divide between both countries, an area that only recorded isolated incidents during the truce. In less than two months, the outbreak of violence between the parties forced more than 55,000 people to leave their homes in southern Lebanon, while causing dozens of deaths, nearly 300 injuries and material damage on both sides of the border. .
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