Israel has resumed its attacks on Gaza after expiration of the truce between itself and Hamas.
Israeli army dropped leaflets telling people in parts of already bombarded southern Gaza to evacuate, indicating an expanding offensive.
The Israeli army issued a statement saying that it has resumed fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saying that Hamas violated the truce by firing into Israel territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office also released a statement in the morning. It said that Hamas violated the outline of the truce; it did not commit to its duties to release all the kidnapped women and launched rockets at Israel today.
The statement said that with the return to fighting, Israel will emphasise that it is committed to achieving the goals of the war to release abductees, eliminate Hamas and guarantee that Gaza is no longer a threat to the residents of Israel.
Starting from the north of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli forces carried out an air strike in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan. Also, artillery shelling and targeting continued in central Gaza, as they tried to expand the military operations on the ground.
The sound of the Israeli drones could be clearly heard again in the sky of the south of the Gaza Strip.
Health Ministry officials in Gaza disclosed that Israeli air strikes killed at least 29 people across the Gaza Strip in less than three hours since the resumption of military operations.
Israeli forces also dropped leaflets in certain areas of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, warning civilians to evacuate southwards towards Rafah, a city bordering Egypt.
The Israeli army published a map dividing Gaza into hundreds of small zones, saying that these individual areas will be used to notify Palestinian civilians of active fighting.
According to an announcement published on the army’s website, Palestinians were asked to follow security updates within the new zones.
Anyone living in or near one of the numbered zones must follow instructions for that area issued by the army, the announcement said.
Meanwhile, Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir stressed that the army “must return to and crush Gaza with all our might.”
In a post on X, he said the enclave should be attacked at maximum power “for the sake of the children who have not yet returned, for the murdered who will no longer return, and so that the horrors of 7/10 will never return.”
He added that Hamas should be destroyed “without compromises, without deals.”
Palestinians Filled With Fear
UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder, who is in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, told a news agency that Palestinians in Gaza are once again full of fear after the resumption of Israel’s military offensive.
Speaking from outside the Nasser hospital, he said that ambulances had already started transporting people to the largest active remaining complex in the enclave.
“Hospital staff obviously have already been working 24/7,” he said.
“This hospital, despite the immense efforts of its brave health staff, cannot take another assault. People cannot take another assault,” he added.
Elder also reminded that thousands of people sleep in the Nasser hospital – beyond the fact it is working at 200 percent capacity for patients who need medical care.
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