Fighting Resumes In Gaza As Truce Expires

Following the end of a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas, fighting resumed in Gaza on Friday.

Health officials in the Palestinian territory announced the first deaths after the standoff resumed at the early hours of Friday in Gaza

Ninety minutes after the ceasefire ended at 0500 GMT, a live camera saw a thick cloud of gray smoke sweeping over northern Gaza and what appeared to be explosions and automatic weapon fire.

Journalists reported airstrikes in the north and south of the region, while the Israeli military said that fighter jets were “currently striking” Hamas targets in Gaza.

At least nine people were killed in the city by attacks, including four children, according to the director of Al-Najar hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, Marwan al-Hams, where many Palestinians fled after being ordered to evacuate the northern part of the territory by Israel.

A physician at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, Fadel Naim, said that two children had perished in air raids on the city.

There has been intense fighting in several areas of Gaza City, a source close to Hamas informed the media, adding that the group’s armed wing had received “the order to resume combat” and to “defend the Gaza Strip.”

Naija News reports that the war resumed after Israel’s army reported that it intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza, the first from the region since a missile launched minutes before the ceasefire on November 24 began.