After seven days of ceasefire, the Gaza sky once again echoed with the sound of missiles and explosions.
Minutes after the deadline to extend the truce expired, Israel confirmed that it had resumed attacks against Hamas in the Strip.
In a post published on 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Hamas, for its part, holds Israel responsible for violating the agreement of truce by not allowing the entry of fuel to the north of the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported that more than 100 people have died in the first three hours since the attacks resumed.
“This morning it became absolutely clear that the war has resumed,” commented Middle East expert and BBC special envoy Jeremy Bowen.
Accusations
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of not having kept its word to release all the women hostages as agreed.
Also He referred to rocket attacks by Hamas that Israel supposedly suffered this morning.
He also reaffirmed in a statement published by his office on social networks that he remains committed to achieving his objectives: freeing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and “guaranteeing that Gaza will never pose a threat to the residents of Israel.
A source close to the negotiations told the BBC that Hamas was not willing to release the Israeli men held in Gaza under the same conditions as the women and children held hostage.
“The nightmare that everyone feared”
As attacks were reported in the northern Gaza Strip, this morning, Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets over areas east and north of the city of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the territory.
For the first time, they included a QR code that linked to a map of the Gaza Strip, broken down into hundreds of blocks identified by numbers.
In a statement, the IDF says the map is designed “to allow Gaza residents to orient themselves and understand instructions, and evacuate from specific locations for their safety if necessary.”
However, BBC diplomatic affairs correspondent Paul Adams explained that the new approach raises a number of questions.
“This morning’s brochures did not appear to refer to any of the numbered blocks. A message in Arabic simply told residents of four named (but not numbered) areas to ‘evacuate immediately and go to shelters in Rafah,'” Adams said.
The message ends with the words: “You have been warned.”
James Elder, spokesman for Unicef, said on the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme: The situation in southern Gaza at the moment is “terrifying”.
He stated that it is “horrible for people” and that “you can see the fear in their faces.”
James says he is in a hospital in southern Gaza and that an attack hit between 50 and 100 meters from the facility.
He says the hospital was “overflowing” with thousands of people, and that some families have been living there on mattresses for weeks.
He described the end of the ceasefire as “the nightmare everyone feared” and warned that rain and poor sanitary conditions would cause more deaths.
“The direction to follow was clear”
Hours before the attacks resumed, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Israeli prime minister during his visit to the Middle East.
Blinken stated that Israeli officials had told him of their intention to resume military operations at some point, and that he asked for certain requirements:
- Start “humanitarian plans for the protection of civilians” before going back to war
- Avoid “significant new displacements of civilians”.
- Avoid damaging critical infrastructure: hospitals, power plants and water supply facilities.
According to Jeremy Bowen, “the direction ahead was clear.”
“The Israelis, who had consistently said that after the pause – in which hostages were released and humanitarian aid access to Gaza was allowed – hostilities would resume, were adamant about this.”
Bowen noted that “Netanyahu is under great pressure, especially from far-right supporters of his government, to return to war.”
“The fighting was going to resume for all these reasons and in particular because “Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas – set at the beginning of the war – has not yet been met.”
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