Israel and Hamas continue war with undiminished severity after ceasefire

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expired at 07:00 (local time, 06:00 CET) on Friday. Journalists from the AFP news agency reported air and artillery attacks in the north and south of the Gaza Strip. At the same time, Palestinian groups fired rockets at Israel from there. Sirens sounded in several Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip. The local authorities once again announced security measures such as the closure of schools.

Hamas "will now take the mother of all blows", said Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy. He blamed the Palestinian organization for the end of the ceasefire because it had "not released all the abducted women". In addition, Hamas had not handed over a new list of hostages to be released before the ceasefire expired. Hamas is still holding 137 hostages. Hamas had also fired a rocket into Israeli territory before the end of the ceasefire.

Hamas, on the other hand, stated that it had proposed to Israel an exchange of "elderly people" and the handover of the bodies of Israeli hostages. Israel had not responded.

The Israeli military announced: "In the past few hours, ground, air and naval forces attacked terrorist targets in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, including in Khan Yunis and Rafah." "Areas prepared with explosives, tunnels used for terrorist purposes, rocket launching pads and operational command centers" of the Islamist Palestinian organization were hit, the statement continued.

The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health reported that more than a hundred Palestinians had been killed since the end of the ceasefire. There were also "hundreds of injured".

Meanwhile, the Israeli army published a map with so-called evacuation zones for civilians in the Gaza Strip. This should help residents to identify areas to be evacuated more quickly in the event of an attack.

Residents in various parts of the Gaza Strip also received warnings on their cell phones on Friday. "The Israel Defense Forces will launch a devastating military attack on your residential area to eliminate the Hamas terrorist organization," the warning said, urging people to seek shelter. "Stay away from military activities of any kind," it continued. Around ten minutes later, explosions could be heard.

The ceasefire had been in force since Friday last week. On Thursday, eight Israeli hostages were released, including some dual nationals.

During the ceasefire, 80 hostages abducted from Israel by the Palestinian organization were freed as part of an agreement between Israel and Hamas, including a total of 14 German dual nationals. In return, 240 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisons. Hamas also released 23 Thais, one Filipino and one Russian-Israeli dual national outside the agreement. Five hostages had already been released before the ceasefire.

After the resumption of fighting, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the government was "determined to achieve the goals of the war". This included the release of the hostages and the elimination of Hamas. It must be ensured "that the Gaza Strip will never again pose a threat to the inhabitants of Israel".

On October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters invaded Israel and committed atrocities, mainly against civilians. According to Israeli reports, around 1,200 people were killed in Israel and around 240 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.

In response, Israel massively bombed targets in the Gaza Strip from the air and on the ground for weeks. According to Hamas, 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.

Despite the resumption of fighting, talks on a new ceasefire have continued. "We continue to work with Israel, Egypt and Qatar on efforts to extend the humanitarian pause in Gaza," said the White House National Security Council.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also called for a renewed ceasefire. "In these minutes, we must do everything we can to ensure that the humanitarian ceasefire continues," Baerbock explained. This is necessary both for the remaining hostages and for the suffering people in Gaza, who urgently need more humanitarian aid.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained that Moscow "would naturally have preferred news of an extension of the humanitarian pause, especially as the process of releasing the hostages has not been completed".

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned of "serious consequences" in view of the resumption of fighting.