War between Israel and Hamas resumes after the failure of talks to extend a truce that lasted a week, as confirmed by the Reuters agency. At the end of the truce, the Gaza health authorities reported that 54 people had already died and dozens had been injured in airstrikes that hit at least eight homes.
In this sense, doctors and witnesses present in the area stated that The bombings were more intense in Khan Younis and Rafahin it southern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Gazans take refuge from the fighting further north. Homes were also hit in central and northern areas.
Gazans said they feared that the bombing of southern areas of the enclave could herald a expansion of the war to areas that Israel had previously described as safe.
The leaflets dropped on the eastern parts of the main southern city, Khan Younis, ordered residents of four villages to evacuate, not to other areas of Khan Younis as in the past, but further south, to the crowded city of Rafah, on the Egyptian border. “You have to evacuate immediately and go to shelters in the Rafah area. Khan Yunis is a dangerous combat zone. You have been warned,” said the pamphlets, written in Arabic.
Israel posted a link to a map showing Gaza divided into hundreds of districtswhich he said will be used in the future to communicate which areas are safe.
Crossed accusations between Israel and Palestine
Each side said the other had rejected conditions for extending the truce, which involved the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas and other militants in the Oct. 7 attack in Israel that precipitated the war, and the release of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails.
“With the resumption of fighting we insist: the Israeli Government is committed to achieving the objectives of the warfree our hostages, eliminate Hamas and ensure that Gaza will never pose a threat to the residents of Israel,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said, Benjamin Netanyahu.
A Palestinian official familiar with talks between Israel and Hamas said they broke down overnight because of the Israel’s demand that Hamas release female soldierswho, he said, were completely separated from other hostages.
The pause, which began on November 24 and was extended twice, had allowed the daily exchange of Israeli hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian detainees, while trucks brought in aid.
Israel, which rejects calls for a permanent ceasefire, had said it the temporary truce could continue as long as Hamas released 10 hostages each daybut after seven days in which women, children and foreign hostages were freed, mediators were unable at the last minute to find a formula to free more.
Qatar, key to the mediation efforts, said negotiations with Israelis and Palestinians to restore the truce were still ongoing, but that renewed Israeli bombing of Gaza had complicated its efforts.
Palestinian health authorities confirm the death of more than 15,000 Gazans, thousands more are missing and feared buried under rubbles. The United Nations states that even 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been expelled from their homeswith no possibility of escaping the narrow territory, and many sleep outdoors in improvised shelters.
Source: Ambito
