The Israeli military resumed its airstrike operations against Hamas on Friday morning after announcing that the terrorist group had violated the terms of their cease-fire agreement.
The Israel Defense Forces provided an operational update at 7:15 a.m. local time, stating that Hamas had fired on Israeli territory after the seventh group of hostages was released Thursday. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Hamas had “violated the plan” and “did not live up to its duty to release all the kidnapped women today.”
Hamas then blamed Israel, saying the nation had refused “throughout the night to accept all offers to release other detainees.”
“Negotiations took place throughout the night to extend the truce, during which the movement offered to exchange prisoners and the elderly,” the statement read. Hamas said it also offered to hand over more bodies of hostages who it said have died from Israeli bombings, but the terror organization claimed that Israeli leaders rejected this offer.
Within the last hour of the truce, Israel said it successfully intercepted at least one missile while many others managed to get through. As conflict broke out, negotiations were still ongoing to extend the deal in order to secure the release the remaining Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, according to Qatar.
“The State of Qatar is committed, along with its mediation partners, to continuing the efforts that led to the humanitarian pause, and will not hesitate to do everything necessary to return to calm,” the Qatari foreign ministry stated.
As of Friday, at least 110 hostages returned home and an estimated 137 remain in Hamas’s custody as both sides returned to fighting.
As a result, the IDF is now urging residents in parts of southern Gaza to evacuate, suggesting its offensive could expand from the north to the rest of the Gaza Strip. While airstrikes and gunfire were reported in the Palestinian territory, sirens went off in southern Israeli communities near the border. Additional sirens started sounding in northern Israel later in the day.
The end of the cease-fire comes after Hamas claimed credit for killing four people and wounding five others in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem on Thursday. The victims were gunned down by two Palestinian gunmen while standing at a bus stop, according to police.