2023-12-01 07:47:26
There was no last-minute agreement, as had happened on Thursday. Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire and early this Friday resumed fighting in Gaza, using artillery and aviation. According to the Strip’s Ministry of Health, at least 21 people died after Israeli bombings in various parts of the occupied Palestinian territory. Earlier, sirens had sounded again in areas of Israel near the border with Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces, in a statement, indicated shortly after 7 a.m. (one hour less in Spain) that its planes were attacking “Hamas terrorist targets.” An hour later, the office of Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu, calling the Islamist organization “Hamas-ISIS” (the acronym in English for the Islamic State), expanded on the reasons why Israel had resumed the war, after a week. of truce.
“Hamas violated the operational pause and fired into Israeli territory,” says the army
“The terrorist organization Hamas-ISIS has violated the scheme. “He has not fulfilled his obligation to release all the women hostages today and has launched rockets against Israeli citizens,” said the statement, which reaffirmed the position expressed by Netanyahu since the start of the war on October 7 and reiterated during this truce, despite international pressure to take advantage of the situation and establish a definitive ceasefire. “Following the resumption of fighting, we emphasize: The Government of Israel is committed to achieving the objectives of the war: freeing the hostages, eliminating Hamas, and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to the residents of Israel,” the statement said. government statement.
Hamas handed over eight hostages on Thursday instead of the ten agreed upon, but, according to the government, the decision not to extend the truce is due above all to the fact that Hamas promised yesterday to hand over ten kidnapped women this Friday and had to Send the mediators – Qatar and Egypt – a list with the names before 7 in the morning, the end time of the truce. Hamas never sent the list.
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Palestinians returning to their houses destroyed during the truce
Adel Hana / LaPresse
Thursday was the seventh and final day of a truce negotiated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, through an agreement that included the release of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. In total, 110 hostages were released, including 86 Israelis and 24 foreigners. There are 137 captives left, of which 20 are women and two are minors (10 months and 4 years old). 240 Palestinian prisoners were also released, all of them women and minors. In the last few hours, the Red Cross transferred 19 of the latter from Israeli detention centers to Ramallah, capital of the West Bank.
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The truce, which began on November 24, marked a pause in the war that broke out on October 7 after an attack by the armed wing of Hamas that included the launching of thousands of rockets towards Israel and the infiltration of some 3,000 militiamen who massacred about 1,200 people and kidnapped another 240 in Israeli villages near the Gaza Strip.
During these days, 105 hostages were released and 240 Palestinians were released from prison.
Since then, and until the day the truce began, Israeli forces maintained a relentless offensive by air, land and sea on the Palestinian enclave that has left more than 15,000 dead, thousands more buried under the rubble, and almost two million displaced people who are experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis due to the collapse of hospitals and the shortage of housing, drinking water, food, medicine and electricity.
On Thursday, during an official visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israeli leaders to refrain from resuming the military offensive in the Gaza Strip unless he establishes a concrete plan to protect Palestinian civilians.
Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants resume fighting in Gaza Strip
ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES / Reuters
The United States does not want a repetition in the south of the Palestinian enclave of “the massive loss of civilian life and displacement (of people), on the scale that occurred in the north,” Blinken said, explaining that Israel’s plan must include “the precise designation of areas in central and southern Gaza where civilians can be safe and out of the line of fire”, prevent massive internal displacement and damage to essential infrastructure such as hospitals, power generators, electricity providers water.
Qatar was working together with its regional and international partners to reach a permanent ceasefire, in the face of increasing international pressure to do so.
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