2023-12-02 07:19:46
The Israeli army continued its attacks on the Palestinian militant organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. “We are currently shelling Hamas military targets throughout the Gaza Strip,” army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said early Saturday morning. According to Hamas, 240 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since fighting resumed on Friday. According to a report, the Israeli army was also deployed in the West Bank.
A seven-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expired on Friday morning, which was used to release Hamas hostages and deliver aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
Because of the renewed shelling, clouds of gray smoke rose over the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which cannot be independently verified, 240 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since fighting resumed. 650 other people were injured in the Israeli attacks. The army particularly targeted the city of Khan Younis in the south of the coastal area. There, “dozens of houses with their residents inside were destroyed.”
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli soldiers also carried out several operations in the occupied West Bank early Saturday morning.
Israel and Hamas blame each other for not extending the ceasefire. According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the United States, Egypt and Qatar are working to broker a second ceasefire.
On October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters entered Israel and committed atrocities, mostly once morest civilians. According to Israeli sources, around 1,200 people were killed in Israel and around 240 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
In response, Israel bombed targets in the Gaza Strip massively from the air and from the ground for weeks. According to Hamas figures, which cannot be independently verified, more than 15,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since then, including more than 6,000 children and young people.
Alarm sirens were heard in Israeli areas near the Gaza Strip following fighting resumed. In one town a rocket hit a delivery truck.
The UN Children’s Fund was alarmed by the new fighting. “Today the Gaza Strip is once once more the most dangerous place in the world for children,” said UNICEF chief Catherine Russell on Saturday. She warned that “hundreds more children might be killed and injured” every day as a result of the fighting.
During the ceasefire, 80 hostages kidnapped from Israel were released. In return, 240 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisons. Hamas also released 23 Thais, a Filipino and a Russian-Israeli dual national outside the agreement with Israel. Five hostages had already been released before the ceasefire.
According to the latest information from the Israeli army, seven more hostages were killed. 136 hostages, including 17 women and children, are still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. One of them is the 38-year-old, Austrian-Israeli dual citizen Tal Shoham.
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