Israel-Hamas war: Israel resumes combat after truce expires
Israel has “resumed combat” in Gaza after Hamas violated the truce, Israeli military confirmed after the ceasefire ended. Follow latest updates. Warning: Graphic
A temporary truce between Israel and Hamas expired on Friday, with the Israeli army saying combat operations had resumed and witnesses reported air and artillery strikes on Gaza City.
“Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement, adding it had “resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip”.
It said “IDF warplanes are now attacking targets” of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
It comas after sounds of gunfire and several explosions were heard in northern Gaza early on Friday, the Shehab News Agency, which is considered close to Hamas, reported on Telegram, shortly before the truce was due to end.
Moments before air raid sirens were blasted in Israeli towns near the Gaza border.
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Neither side have announced an extension but Israel earlier said it was open to continuing if Hamas committed to releasing more hostages
“We’re ready for all possibilities ... Without that, we’re going back to the combat,” Mark Regev, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s advisor told CNN ahead of the deadline ending.
Earlier Hamas also said it was willing to extend the truce further, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had called for the pause to continue.
With just an hour until the pause was due to end, Israel’s military said it’s Iron Dome had intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza, the first launched from the territory since a missile fired minutes into the truce’s first day.
The truce has paused fighting that began on October 7 when Hamas militants broke through Gaza’s militarised border into Israel.
The surprise attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants kidnapped about 240, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas in response and unleashed an air and ground military campaign in Gaza that the Hamas government says has killed more than 15,000 people, also mostly civilians.
Since the start of a truce brokered by Qatar, 80 Israeli hostages have been freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
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EXPLOSIVE NEWS CLAIMS OVER HAMAS’ TERROR ATTACK
Israeli security officials allegedly obtained Hamas’ battle plan for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it took place but dismissed it as “aspirational”.
The 40-page document, Israeli officials code named “Jericho Wall”, outlined the exact kind of event that the world would later watch in horror on October 7.
According to the New York Times, the document was not dated but showed “a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases, including a division headquarters”.
Critically, the document described how drones could knock out border cameras and gunmen in paragliders and motorbikes could go into Israel – exactly as it happened last month.
“Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision,” the NYT concluded after reviewing and translating the document.
But the document was seen by Israeli officials as only aspirational and too difficult for Hamas to actually mount.
“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” a military assessment of the document stated.
Another analyst determined it was not aspirational or that the “scenario is imaginary” but was a manuscript for war, but the concerns were reportedly dismissed by Israel’s military and intelligence.
The revelation is the latest in a series of mounting evidence of an apparent failure by Israel’s defence and intelligence agencies to multiple signals a major attack was being planned.
Videos released by Hamas prior to the Oct. 7 assault had shown them rehearsing the sort of urban assault and hostage taking – ironically less than 2km from the Gaza border wall with Israel – that eventually took place but this too was dismissed by Israeli authorities as just propaganda.
There had also been reports from more than a year ago taken from a captured Hamas fighter about how militants had travelled to Asia to learn how to fly in a paraglider.
A week before the Oct. 7 assault there was also a parade in Gaza City featuring a range of new rockets.
Cumulatively all the apparent warnings were dismissed.
The Israeli military and security agencies declined to comment.
HAMAS RELEASES HOSTAGE PARADED IN ‘PROOF OF LIFE’ VIDEO
Hamas has released eight more hostages including 21-year-old Mia Schem who was paraded in the first “proof of life” video after the October 7 massacre.
The Israeli-French national was freed alongside 40-year-old Amit Soussana and were handed to the Red Cross in Gaza.
“A short while ago, Red Cross representatives transferred two Israeli released hostages to IDF special forces and ISA forces adjacent to the security fence with the Gaza Strip,” a statement read.
It added that the two women would be transferred to the Hatzerim Base for medical checks.
Another six Israeli hostages were released in the Gaza Strip and returned to Israel late Thursday local time, the Israeli prime minister’s office said.
The release of the six - who mediator Qatar said included Uruguayan, Mexican and Russian dual nationals - came hours before a truce extension was due to expire.
Three bodies were also due to be released, but Hamas has indicated it could also free an additional two Russian-Israeli citizens, according to The Times of Israel.
A video shared by Israeli media showed Schem’s mother, Keren, becoming emotional as she heard the news, bursting into tears of joy as she exclaimed, “Mia is coming back.”
Footage shows the two hostages get out of a car in front of a crowd as they meet Red Cross workers who help them to a different vehicle.
Schem was one of over 190 people abducted by Hamas from the Supernova music festival on October 7.
She was seen pleading to be released in a video released by the terrorist group 10 days after the atrocity.
The 21-year-old was shown receiving medical care for her wounded arm before telling the camera she was being held in Gaza and pleading for her release.
“They are taking care of me, giving me medicine, everything is fine,” Schem said during a minute-long video posted to Telegram.
“I only ask that they bring me home as soon as possible to my parents, to my siblings.
“Get me out of here as soon as possible. Please.”
Following the release of the footage, her devastated mother pleaded with the world to “help bring my baby home”.
The release of the two women comes as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement was extended.
TRUCE EXTENDED AMID TERROR ATTACK IN JERUSALEM
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been extended, marking the second extension of the initial four-day truce that began last Friday.
The truce extension came as two “terrorists” opened fire in Jerusalem, Israeli police said, minutes before fighting was due to resume.
“Palestinian and Israeli sides have reached an agreement to extend the humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip for an additional day under the existing conditions, which are a cessation of all military activities and the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” mediating nation Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed Al Ansari said.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told CNN it would extend the truce for each day that Hamas continued to release 10 hostages alive.
“Every day, we agreed to an extension for the release of 10 hostages, 10 living hostages,” Mr Regev said.
“If Hamas continues to release hostages, 10 a day, we will extend the hold – the pause.
“This is a humanitarian pause in our fight against Hamas. Israel is determined to destroy Hamas’ military machine and its rule over Gaza.
“We are not going to play games with the lives of our people. Hamas know what the parameters of the deal are.”
He said if Hamas failed to meet the conditions of the truce extension, then fighting would resume.
On Thursday 16 hostages were released, five teenagers, seven women and four Thai nationals. The women and children were dual US, Dutch, Russian and German citizens.
At the current rate of hostage release and should the ceasefire extension be confirmed, all the women and children should be freed allowing for Hamas and Israel – via Qatari negotiators – to progress talks on releasing 126 men being held captive including “several dozen” IDF soldiers.
In exchange for the males, Hamas has demanded hundreds of Palestinians including men be released from Israel jails; so far only women and children detained in Israeli jails have been part of the prisoner exchange.
BLINKEN IN ISRAEL
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday, his third trip to the region since the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack, to be part of ceasefire extension negotiations and was set to meet with Israel’s leaders.
He is also expected to visit the Israeli-occupied West Bank and to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“Looking at the next couple of days, we’ll be focused on doing what we can to extend the pause so we can continue to get more hostages out and more humanitarian assistance in,” Mr Blinken said.
US President Joe Biden also said he hoped the ceasefire could be extended.
Blinken is also urging Israel narrow the zone of combat and clarify where Palestinian civilians can seek safety during any Israeli operation in the now densely populated southern Gaza, echoing international concerns over the risk of more civilian Palestinian deaths.
In the West Bank on Thursday, Israeli troops killed two Palestinian boys – an eight-year-old an a 15-year-old – during a raid on the town of Jenin. The IDF claimed they were throwing explosives but the only footage available shows them just running away from troops moving through the refugee camp.
Abbas has expressed reluctance to wanting to take over Gaza after the war and was deeply unpopular already in the West Bank due to his perceived failures in halting Jewish Settler occupation and violence in the Palestinian territory.
THREE KILLED IN JERUSALEM SHOOTING
Three people have been killed and several more wounded after gunmen opened fire in Jerusalem on Thursday, Israeli police said.
Two gunmen, from annexed east Jerusalem, opened fire on people near a bus stop on the western outskirts of the city.
Israeli police said 16 people were injured in the attack, including eight seriously, who were taken to nearby hospitals.
“Two terrorists arrived in a car, one of them armed with an M-16 and the other with a pistol,” and opened fire, Jerusalem police chief Doron Torgeman said.
Both gunmen were killed by two off-duty soldiers and an armed civilian who returned fire, according to a police statement.
A police search of the terrorists’ car revealed ammunition and weaponry,” the statement said, adding that three of the wounded were in serious condition,” the statement read.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said one of the fatalities was a 24-year-old woman.
A 73-year-old man, who was in a critical condition, was pronounced dead at Shaare Zedek Medical Center and a third person also died of his wounds, according to Israeli media.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was praying for “the peace of the wounded” and sent his condolences to “those murdered in the attack”.
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“The quick reaction of two fighters and a civilian who eliminated the terrorists prevented an even more serious attack. I salute them,” he said.
“All Hamas terrorists are mortal – in Jerusalem, Gaza, Judea and Samaria – everywhere.
“I appreciate the fact that both fighters and the civilian acted quickly on the ground. The government headed by me will continue expanding the distribution of weapons to citizens.
“This is a measure that proves itself time and time again in the war against murderous terrorism.”
Since the war broke out, there has been an uptick in deadly violence in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
On October 6, an Israeli border police officer died after being stabbed by a Palestinian assailant at a police station in east Jerusalem.
Ten days later, an Israeli soldier died after being shot in an attack on a checkpoint on the eastern side of Jerusalem at the entrance to a tunnel linking the West Bank with the city.
Another five Israeli security personnel were also wounded, with Israeli police shooting dead all three assailants.
That attack was claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
ISRAEL REVIEWS NEW LIST OF HOSTAGES TO BE RELEASED
The Israeli government said it received a new list of women and children hostages in the Gaza Strip to be released by Hamas on Thursday in exchange for a one-day extension of the truce.
“A short time ago, Israel was given a list of women and children in accordance with the terms of the agreement, and therefore the truce will continue,” said the statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, without specifying the number of hostages to be released.
The truce, initially agreed last Friday, has brought a temporary halt to fighting for an exchange of hostages and prisoners.
The total number of freed hostages stands at 102 people, including 70 Israelis, from around 240 taken to the Gaza Strip after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attacks when militants crossed the border and killed 1200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel has released 210 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal.
WHY SEA IS CRUCIAL IN NEXT STAGE OF WAR
Israel is preparing to resume its assault on Gaza after the ceasefire extension ends, prompting international mediators in Qatar to consider contingencies including a “sea corridor” for aid to stave off what the UN has warned is an emerging famine.
Cyprus and Qatar is looking at a humanitarian aid corridor through the Mediterranean Sea from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip close to the beach district where more than one million Palestinians are crammed.
Gazans have been warned by the Israel Defence Force (IDF) the ground invasion will shift to the south about Khan Younis and urged all civilians to move to the “safe zone” of Gaza coastal town Al-Mawasi.
The zone is 14 sqkm and the UN has said the concentration of more than 1.5 million people crammed in was a dangerous situation with mass collateral should there by a stray Israel missile. They warned aid by road was not enough to stop famine and more food supplies were needed.
The Cyprus government has dispatched a team of experts to Qatar to map out moving huge quantities of aid via a flotilla of international ships, able to navigate the shallow waters. The proposal has the support of Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
CHINA RELEASES THEIR POSITION ON THE CONFLICT
China’s government has released its position paper on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The five point proposal reiterated much of China’s ongoing position on the conflict, which is that a two-state solution remains the answer, and again called for a permanent ceasefire, and an end to the fighting.
It said humanitarian corridors had to be safe and unimpeded, and expansion of the conflict must be prevented.
“Pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council shoulders primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and should thus play an active and constructive role on the question of Palestine,” it said.
“Any arrangement on the future of Gaza must respect the will and independent choice of the Palestinian people, and must not be imposed upon them.”
UN SHOCKED BY ISRAELI ‘EXECUTION’ OF 9YO
Two boys, one eight years old and the other 15, have been shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
In a statement reported by Agence France-Presse, the health ministry said: “Adam al-Ghul, eight years old, and Bassem Abu el-Wafa, 15 years old, were killed by bullets from the occupier [Israel].”
Confronting CCTV footage circulating online shows what appears to be one of the boys running for cover in the street before being shot and falling to the ground. Someone else then runs towards the boy and drags him away, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Another video shows what appears to the other boy getting shot and falling to the ground. The boy can be seen struggling on the ground for over half a minute.
UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese has called the killing by Israeli forces an “execution in cold blood”.
“No Palestinian is safe under Israeli occupation,” she wrote on social media, accompanying a video of the child’s killing in Jenin on Wednesday.
Media report the shocking execution in cold blood of 9-year old #AdamAlGhoul in occupied West Bank. He is one of the 230+ Palestinians killed by Israeli army&settlers in WB since Oct 7.
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) November 29, 2023
No Palestinian is safe under Israeli occupation. #EndTheOccupation#ProtectivePresenceoPthttps://t.co/4biI0zW8Be
MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, US WOMAN AMONG MORE FREED HOSTAGES
A US woman is among 10 Israelis and four Thai nationals back in Israel after being released by Hamas under an extended truce deal that is due to expire within hours.
US President Joe Biden hailed the release of dual Israeli-US citizen Liat Beinin, a mother of three — Ofri, 22, Neta, 20, and Aya, 18 — from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Her husband Aviv is still held hostage in Gaza.
“I’ve got some very good news to report,” Mr Biden told tells reporters.
“Liat Beinin is safe in Egypt. She’s crossed the border. I talked to her mother and father; they’re very appreciative. She’ll soon be home with her three children.”
The two women – identified by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Yelena Trupanov, 50, and her mother 73-year-old Irena Tati – were handed over by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross “after the efforts of the Russian president”.
The Palestinians released from Israeli prisons in exchange included 16 minors and 14 women.
30 PALESTINIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN FREED
Another 30 Palestinians have been freed from Israeli prisons, authorities have said in the final exchange under an extended truce deal due to expire within hours.
Among those freed was Ahed Tamimi, a 22-year-old activist who has become a key figure for Palestinians defying the Israeli occupation.
She was detained over an Instagram post, which her family denies she made.
Her mother Narimane, whose husband has also been detained, said her daughter was not even able to open a social media account.
There have been now 210 Palestinians free from Israeli prisons, many of whom are underage or women.
Israel often places Palestinians under administrative detention, a practice widely criticised. This involves detaining someone who is unaware of any charges against them and their case is not subject to any legal process.
At the start of October, more than 1200 Palestinians were being held in administrative detention. According to both Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, it is the highest figure in more than three decades.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Israel-Hamas war: Israel resumes combat after truce expires
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