After the ceasefire ends
Heavy fighting in southern Gaza – renewed shelling from Lebanon
After the ceasefire ended on Friday morning, there was heavy fighting again in Gaza
© John MACDOUGALL / AFP
The war in the Gaza Strip continues after the end of the ceasefire. Both sides fight relentlessly. There are still believed to be over 130 Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army continued its attacks on the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas on Saturday Gaza Strip continued. “We are currently shelling Hamas military targets throughout the Gaza Strip,” said Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus 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. Both sides 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 new ceasefire.
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 Chan Yunis in the south of the coastal area. There, “dozens of houses with their residents inside were destroyed.”
Israel’s army fires more projectiles from Lebanon
Israel says it has again come under fire from its northern neighbor Lebanon. The Israeli army announced on Saturday morning that its own artillery had responded by attacking the area from where the projectiles were fired towards Israel. An Israeli fighter jet hit the target in Lebanon, it said. There was no information about possible victims. Only the day before there had been fighting again on the border between the two countries.
The Hezbollah militia, which is supported by Iran, said it attacked Israeli positions near the border several times. According to Lebanese security circles, a Hezbollah member and his mother were killed in a counterattack by Israel. The Israeli military said it had attacked a “terror cell” in Lebanon. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, there have been repeated attacks resulting in deaths on Israel’s northern border.
After the ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip came into force, there was also a tense calm on Israel’s border with Lebanon with only a few incidents.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli soldiers also carried out several operations in the occupied West Bank early Saturday morning.
Report: US supplied Israel with bunker-busting bombs
According to one report, the United States supplied Israel with 100 bunker buster bombs and tens of thousands of other weapons for the war. As the US newspaper “Wall Street Journal” reported on Friday (local time), citing US officials, Israel alone was provided with 100 bunker buster bombs following the unprecedented Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7th. The delivery of additional weapons and ammunition, including around 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells, began shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel and has continued in recent days.
Israel’s army fights “as long as necessary”
According to a spokesman, Israel’s army has not set a time limit for the Gaza war. “We are determined to fight Hamas for as long as it is necessary,” said Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus on Saturday night, adding: “We have no other choice.” Conricus once again reiterated his country’s war goal of completely destroying the terrorist organization so that it no longer poses a threat to Israel in the future.
The spokesman was reacting to media reports that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had allegedly spoken in his recent talks with the Israeli leadership of three weeks that Israel had to continue the war at its current level. Israeli media reported that Blinken was not sure whether Israel would have the international support to continue fighting with the same intensity as before the ceasefire.
Hostage’s body recovered
Israel’s military says it has recovered the body of an Israeli who was kidnapped to Gaza. She was recently discovered and brought back to Israel, the army said on Friday evening. The dead man was identified on Wednesday. According to media reports, terrorists kidnapped the 27-year-old to the Gaza Strip on October 7th. He had therefore visited the Supernova Festival with friends.
An Israeli military spokesman also confirmed the deaths of four more hostages from the Islamist Hamas. According to media reports, the bodies are still in the Gaza Strip. The military continues to seek more information on the condition of the remaining hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip, the spokesman said.
Israel assumes there are still 137 hostages
An Israeli government spokesman had previously said that 137 hostages were still being held in the Gaza Strip. It was initially unclear whether the dead were included. He gave the number on Friday evening at 136, including 17 women and children. Since the start of the war against Hamas, Israeli ground forces have already recovered several Israeli bodies from the Gaza Strip.
On October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters entered Israel and committed atrocities, mostly against civilians. According to Israeli information, around 1,200 people were killed in Israel and around 240 people were taken hostage.
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.
The UN Children’s Fund was alarmed by the new fighting. “Today the Gaza Strip is once again the most dangerous place in the world for children,” said UNICEF boss Catherine Russell on Saturday. She warned that “hundreds more children could be killed and injured” every day as a result of the fighting.