Military active in northern Gaza, Hamas-controlled ministry says as truce breaks down
Minutes after a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas broke down on Friday, Israeli military vehicles were firing in northwest Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior in Gaza.
In a statement, the ministry also said Israeli aircraft were in the skies above the area.
The statement from Hamas comes as the Israeli military said it had resumed combat operations against the militant group, accusing it of violating the truce agreement by firing toward Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has resumed combat operations against Hamas, accusing the militant group of violating the truce agreement by firing toward Israel.
The truce between Israel and Hamas appeared to have expired Friday with no immediate sign of an agreement being reached to further extend the hostage deal to an eighth day.
It is not yet clear whether this means that fighting will resume in the Gaza Strip, which suffered extensive damage and loss of life during seven weeks of Israeli bombardment.
An hour before Friday’s deadline was set to expire Israel’s aerial defense system intercepted one rocket launched from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said. There was no indication of who launched the single rocket.
The truce, which started last Friday, was expected to expire at 7 a.m. local time (12 a.m. ET). An agreement to extend to a seventh day came down to the wire on Thursday.
Egyptian and Qatari negotiators had been pushing to extend the pause in fighting in Gaza for an extra two days to facilitate the release of further hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and to allow more aid into the strip, according to Egypt’s State Information Service.
Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that a condition of any extension to the pause in fighting is that Hamas must release 10 Israeli women and children held hostage per day.
Under the terms of the deal, Israel freed three Palestinians for every Israeli hostage released.
As the truce expiration loomed both Israel and Hamas have indicated they’re prepared for fighting to resume.
“We should be prepared for a quick transition into full scale fighting at any point, today, tomorrow, at any moment. As soon as we maximize the move to return hostages we will resume fierce fighting across the whole Gaza Strip,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Thursday.
Hamas’ military wing on Thursday asked its forces to maintain a high-combat readiness posture.
In the seven-day pause in fighting, 80 Israelis — primarily women and children and some of whom are dual citizens — and another 24 foreign nationals have been released. Another Israeli dual citizen was also freed outside of the agreed-upon deal.
As of Thursday, 240 Palestinians had been freed from Israeli prisons — mainly women and minors.
