Minutes after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal expired this Friday night, Israeli jet fighters resumed bombarding Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians.
A few minutes after the week-long ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas expired this Friday night, Israel resumed deadly airstrikes against Palestinians in Gaza, targeting random houses and multi-story building the in the besieged territory. The Israel’s military carried out more than 400 strikes on Gaza in the first 24 hours after the truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed.
According to figures by Palestine’s health authorities, the deadly airstrikes over Gaza City and southern parts of the enclave, killed 180 Palestinians, and injured many more.
To make matters worse, the Israeli military issued a statement this Saturday morning, urging residents in parts of southern Gaza to evacuate. This is in fact a signal that the resumption of the war would mean a broader assault by Israel, which in turn can kill any chance for the renewal of the truce between the two sides of the war.
In the statement, the Israeli military claimed that Hamas leaders are still hiding alongside the masses of civilians who have fled south at Israel’s urging and as a result of weeks of aerial bombardment and ground battles in the north. Some 2 million people — almost its entire population — are crammed into the territory’s south. Unable to go into north Gaza or neighboring Egypt, Gazans’ only escape is to move around within the 85-square-mile area (220 square kilometers) to hopefully find a safe haven in the face of Israel’s attacks.
The resumption of attacks by Israel is happening while it has 140 hostages still held captive by Hamas and other militants, after more than 100 were freed during the truce last week.
Washington is pressuring Tel Aviv to protect civilian lives in Gaza
The U.S. has urged its ally to do more to protect Palestinians in any new campaign. Aware of the degree of violence that its ally in the Middle East is applying against Palestinians, Washington once again urged Israel to cool down and protect the lives of civilians in Gaza.
It was on this Friday morning that the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, where Blinken told Netanyahu that Israel should do more to protect Palestinian civilians.
A day earlier, Blinken was in the UAE, meeting with Arab foreign ministers at the global climate talks in Dubai. There, he said that the US “remains intensely focused on getting everyone home, getting hostages back. We are also very much focused, as we’ve been all along, on trying to make sure that this conflict doesn’t spread, that it doesn’t escalate in other places.”
He stressed that protecting civilians in Gaza is necessary and Israel will inform Palestinians of safe places, adding that the US is making an effort for Palestinians to have their own state.”
In response, however, Netanyahu’s office said that Israel “is committed to achieving the goals of the war,” including releasing the hostages and eliminating Hamas, which means the airstrikes will continue.
The war between Hamas and Israel began after the Oct. 7 attack by the former and other militants on Israel. Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis and took captive around 240 others on the day the war erupted. In return, Israel has so far killed more than 16,000 Palestinians. The toll is likely much higher, as officials have only sporadically updated the count since mid-November.
