The United States called on Israeli leaders to refrain from resuming the military offensive in the Gaza Strip unless it establishes a concrete plan to protect Palestinian civilians.
The truce maintained by Israel and Hamas was broken this Friday morning, and Israel has resumed bombings against Gaza, after seven days of ceasefire that allowed the release of some hostages captured by the Islamist group in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Israel assures that it was Hamas that initiated the attacks and that for this reason “the fighter planes of the Israel Defense Forces are currently attacking Hamas terrorist targets in the Strip“.
For its part, the Gaza Ministry of the Interior, controlled by Hamas, has confirmed that “Israeli aircraft are flying over the Strip and their vehicles have opened fire in the northwest of the enclave.”
According to Palestinian media, the Israeli attacks cover the north and south of the Palestinian enclave, including residential areas, and have already caused new injuries. In addition, Hamas militants confront Israeli ground forces on the Salah Al Din road, which served for the evacuation of displaced people from the north to the south of the Strip.
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, it 105 hostages were releasedamong them 81 Israelis and 24 foreigners, and 240 Palestinian prisoners releasedall of them women and minors.
The truce, which began on November 24marked 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 some 1,200 people and kidnapped another 240 in Israeli villages near the Gaza Strip.
Since then, and until the day the truce began, Israel’s forces maintained a relentless offensive by air, land and sea on the Palestinian enclave that has left more than 15,000 deads, thousands of other people 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.
Qatar was working together with its regional and international partners to achieve a permanent ceasefirein the face of increasing international pressure in that regard.
Source: Eitb
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