Gaza war resumes after Hamas violates ceasefire
Air strikes are focusing on the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza; IDF warns local residents to flee to safer areas.
Smoke rises above buildings during an Israeli strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 1, 2023, after battles resumed between Israel and the Hamas movement
Shortly after 7 am Israel time, the Israeli army resumed its military offensive against the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
Hamas had until that time every morning to provide a list of at least 10 additional hostages it planned to release in order to buy one more day of ceasefire. It failed to provide a list by the specified time this morning.
Additionally, shortly before 7 am, Hamas fired at least one rocket at southern Israel. It was intercepted by the Iron Dome.
A statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read:
“The Hamas-ISIS terrorist organization has violated the agreement. It has not met its obligation to release all of the women hostages today, and has launched rockets at Israeli citizens.
“Upon the resumption of fighting, we emphasize: The Government of Israel is committed to achieving the goals of the war: Releasing the hostages, eliminating Hamas, and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to the residents of Israel.”
Israel’s renewed air strikes on Friday morning focused largely on southern Gaza, in particular the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis.
Flyers were distributed to local residents calling on them to flee Khan Yunis and head to the town of Rafah, which sits on the Gaza-Egypt border. The IDF warned Gaza civilians that Khan Yunis is now a dangerous combat zone.
Smoke and debris rises from buildings due to Israeli airstrikes after the humanitarian pause ended on December 01, 2023 in Rafah, Gaza
In one Israeli strike on Khan Yunis, the home of a senior Hamas official on the fourth floor of a five-floor upscale residential building was destroyed. The rest of the building was untouched.
The Biden administration has stressed in recent days that it expects Israel to be “more careful” to avoid civilian casualties in southern Gaza than it was in the north of the coastal enclave. The insinuation of the demand was seen by many Israelis as an insult, as though Israel had purposefully killed thousands of civilians in northern Gaza, or at best had coldly disregarded them.
Israel goes to great lengths to avoid collateral damage in battle, much more so than American forces in recent Middle East wars, and this often comes at the cost of higher IDF casualties. That thousands of Gaza civilians are dying is entirely the fault of Hamas, which uses them as human shields. But Washington can’t complain to Hamas, so it instead blames Israel.
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