Israel Restarts Bombing Gaza As Week-Long Truce With Hamas Ends

Israel’s military resumed its airstrikes, and artillery fire on Gaza City, as the week-long truce with Hamas ended with no agreement to extend it, said the Israel military on Friday.

“Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military said.

On Friday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza, the first from the territory since a missile launched minutes into the first day of the truce.

According to journalists in Gaza, the Israeli warplanes carried out a series of air strikes and artillery fire on the Gaza City. Drones hovered over the southern part of Gaza for the first time since the truce, an AFP reporter in the area said.

The truce had stopped fighting that began on October 7 when Hamas broke through Gaza’s militarised border into Israel killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel retaliated through air and ground military campaigns in Gaza and Hamas claimed more than 15,000 people died in these attacks.

During the truce mediated by Qatar, 80 Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.