Israel-Hamas war: List of key events, day 56 | Israel-Palestine conflict News

EXPLAINER

Israel military says operations have restarted in Gaza after the truce expired – here are the major updates.

Here’s what is to know about the situation on Friday, December 1, 2023:

Truce, prisoner and captive release

• The Israeli army says it has resumed fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
• The resumption of hostilities came at about 7am local time (05:00GMT) on Friday, as the deadline for the end of the week-long truce passed. Israeli air strikes have been reported across Gaza.
• “Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory. The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military said.
•  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas did not agree to release further captives, infringing on terms of a truce, and that Israel remained committed to achieving its objectives as fighting resumed.
• Thirty Palestinian prisoners were freed from Israeli jails following the seventh exchange of the truce, after eight Israeli captives were released in Gaza.
• The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had facilitated the release and transfer of 19 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli detention centres to Ramallah.
• Thai captives freed after weeks of being held in Gaza have spoken of their relief after returning to Bangkok, where they were welcomed home by overjoyed relatives.

Latest developments

• Al Jazeera journalists in the Gaza Strip say air raids have resumed and aircraft can be heard hovering overhead.
• There are also reports of Israeli air raids and artillery fire in Gaza City.
• Witnesses in Gaza City say heavy clashes are taking place between Palestinian fighting groups and Israeli troops.
• In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, a Reuters witness said he could hear heavy shelling and see smoke rising in the east of the town. Images on social media showed large plumes of dark smoke rising over the densely built-up Jabalia camp in Gaza.
• Some 60 percent of homes in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli bombardment, according to the government media office in the besieged enclave.

Diplomacy

• Israel and Hamas agreed to add a seventh day of a humanitarian pause on Thursday, while Egyptian and Qatari mediators were working to negotiate a further extension of two days, Egypt’s official state media agency said.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Israel during his third visit to the Middle East since the war began, agreed that the flow of aid into Gaza was not sufficient.
• Blinken said he told Netanyahu that Israel must do more to protect civilians before any further military operations, and Netanyahu and his cabinet supported this approach.
• In his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Blinken focused on efforts to increase the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and condemned Jewish settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
• At COP28 in Dubai, Israeli President Isaac Herzog asked United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to use his “political weight” to help free all of the Israeli captives held in Gaza.