At least 21 people killed as Israel resumes fighting in Gaza

Israeli forces asking people in Khan Younis to evacuate to Rafah but also targeting Rafah, says journalist

GAZA/ TEL AVIV:

At least 21 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s army resumed its attacks on Friday, Gaza’s health ministry reported.

As per the current breakdown available with Al Jazeera, two people have been killed in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip; seven at Maghazi, central Gaza Strip; one in Khan Younis city, southern Gaza Strip; two in Hamad town, south of Khan Younis; and nine in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.

Earlier, health ministry officials in Gaza said Israeli air strikes had killed at least nine people across the Gaza Strip in less than two hours since the resumption of military operations.

Israel has also been asking residents in certain neighbourhoods of Khan Younis to leave ahead of an expected attack in the area.

“The Israeli forces are dropping leaflets for people in Khan Younis asking them to evacuate to Rafah but they are also targeting Rafah,” journalist Hind Khoudary said.

Palestinians ride in the back of a vehicle as they move toward safer areas following the resumption of Israeli strikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 1, 2023. PHOTO: AFP

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said Israeli forces have launched a broad air campaign across the Gaza Strip in the past hour.

In the north, a residential building had been completely destroyed in the Jabalia refugee camp; in central Gaza, a number of civilians were wounded at the al-Maghazi area. Reports indicated that a house had been completely destroyed in Rafah, in the south, where four Palestinians were reported killed.

A residential building close to a hospital in the south was also hit by Israeli drones.

“Right now, sounds of Israeli explosions can be heard in the south, an area that the Israeli authorities had recommended as safe for civilians to flee,” Abu Azzoum said.

“Largely in the last hour, we have been under heavy Israeli bombardment,” he added.

The Israeli army issued a statement on Friday saying it had resumed fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, claiming that the Palestinian resistance group violated the truce by firing into Israel territory.

Al Jazeera journalists in the Gaza Strip said air raids had resumed and aircraft were heard hovering overhead.

There were also reports of Israeli air raids and artillery fire in Gaza City.

Witnesses in Gaza City and the north of the Gaza Strip said heavy clashes were taking place between Palestinian fighting groups and Israeli troops.

In the central of the Gaza Strip, Israeli tanks were also shelling near Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps.

Powerful strikes on Rafah these moments pic.twitter.com/LEoPW7EGju

— Gaza Report - اخبار غزة (@gaza_report) December 1, 2023

A temporary truce between Israel and Hamas that was due to end at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Friday expired, with neither side announcing a deal to extend it, added Reuters.

In the hour before the truce was set to end, Israel said it intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza and Hamas-affiliated media reported sounds of explosions and gunfire in the north of the Palestinian enclave.

Further sirens warning of rockets sounded again in Israeli areas near Gaza just minutes before the deadline, the Israeli military said.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas or claim of responsibility for the launches.

Read Hamas hands over two female hostages, others expected after truce extended

The seven-day pause, which began on November 24 and was extended twice, had allowed for the exchange of dozens of hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and facilitated the entry of humanitarian aid into the shattered enclave.

Qatar and Egypt have been making intensive efforts to extend the truce following the exchange on Thursday of the latest batch of eight hostages and 30 Palestinian prisoners.

⚡️Hamas published today’s footage showing the 7th handover by Hamas of Zionist prisoners in the Gaza Strip.

The handover was carried out in 2 different batches. pic.twitter.com/IRVLNeT9tI

— Arya - آریا 🇮🇷 (@AryJeay) November 30, 2023

Israel had previously set the release of 10 hostages a day as the minimum it would accept to pause its ground assault and bombardment.

"We're ready for all possibilities.... Without that, we're going back to the combat," Mark Regev, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on CNN ahead of the expiry of the truce.

Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas, which rules Gaza, in response to the October 7 raid the resistance group carried out in Israel’s territories against the latter’s continuous violation of Palestinian rights.

Israel retaliated with intense bombardment and a ground invasion. Palestinian health authorities deemed reliable by the United Nations say more than 15,000 Gazans have been confirmed killed.

Thursday's releases brought the totals freed during the truce to 105 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners.

With fewer Israeli women and children left in captivity, lengthening the truce could require setting new terms for Hamas to release Israeli men, including soldiers.

The militant group could in turn seek to have Palestinian male prisoners handed over. So far, three Palestinian prisoners have been freed for each Israeli hostage.

Blinken ends visit to Israel, heads to the UAE

Shortly after Israel resumed operations in Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was reported to have left Israel for United Arab Emirates (UAE) after boarding a US military aircraft at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.