(Daily Mail) An Israeli government spokesman today declared that Hamas ‘will now take the mother of all thumpings’ after a truce pausing fighting in the Gaza Strip expired and hostilities resumed.
‘Unfortunately, Hamas decided to terminate the pause by failing to release all the kidnapped women,’ government spokesman Eylon Levy told a briefing.
‘Having chosen to hold onto our women, Hamas will now take the mother of all thumpings.’
Israel this morning relaunched its brutal offensive on Hamas with full force, firing a barrage of missiles and sending warplanes screaming over Gaza as a week-long ceasefire expired.
The truce officially expired at 7am local time (5am GMT), but the IDF claimed that Hamas ‘violated’ the ceasefire early and launched rockets on Israel in the early hours, with footage shared to social media appearing to show attacks on the city of Sderot close to the border with Gaza.
Just under an hour before the ceasefire officially expired, the IDF claimed it had ‘intercepted’ another attack, adding that a ‘number’ of rockets had been fired by Hamas before the truce ended.
The Hamas-led health ministry in Gaza said 14 people had been killed in the first two hours after fighting resumed. Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, there were ’14 dead and dozens injured, most of them women and children’.
Though the seven-day truce offered a welcome reprieve from bloodshed and saw Hamas release dozens of Israeli and foreign hostages, dozens more remain trapped inside Gaza as fighting resumed this morning.
Smoke rises from buildings due to Israeli airstrikes after the humanitarian pause ended on December 01, 2023 in Rafah, Gaza
Palestinians carry wounded children following an Israeli strike on a house, after a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel expired, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip December 1, 2023
A woman holding a child mourns her baby girl killed in an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, as she waits to receive the body for burial in the courtyard of the al-Najjar hospital on December 1, 2023
An injured Palestinian child is taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital to receive treatment after Israeli attacks in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on December 01, 2023
Smoke rises above buildings during an Israeli strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 1, 2023, after battles resumed between Israel and the Hamas movement
Palestinians evacuate wounded in Israeli bombardment Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023
Dead Palestinian bodies are brought to the Nasser hospital after an Israeli attack at the end of the week-long ‘humanitarian pause’ in Khan Yunis, Gaza
Palestinians begin to migrate to areas in the central part of the city due to Israeli attacks following the end of the week-long humanitarian pause in Khan Yunis, Gaza on December 01, 2023
A Palestinian youth carries a badly wounded child as poeple rush out of a bombarded area in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on December 1, 2023
Residents and personnel conduct search and rescue works continue in the rubble of the destroyed building after the end of the week-long ‘humanitarian pause’ in Rafah, Gaza on December 01, 2023
Despite the fresh violence, Qatari and Egyptian mediators are still negotiating a new extension of the seven-day truce.
In a statement this morning, Qatar‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its ‘deep regret at the resumption of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip following the end of the humanitarian pause’ but confirmed that negotiations between the two sides ‘are continuing with the aim of returning to a pause’.
Hamas last night released another round of hostages hours before the resumption of hostilities.
The freed hostages were named as Nili Margalit, 41, Sapir Cohen, 29, Shani Goren, 29, Ilana Gritzewsky, 30, Aisaha Ziadana, 17, and her brother Bilal, 18.
Ziadana’s father Yousef and eldest brother Hamza remain in captivity.
The IDF last night confirmed the six Israeli hostages were handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross.
An IDF statement said: ‘According to the information provided by the Red Cross, six Israeli abductees were transferred to them and are on their way to Israel.’
Those hostages were freed hours after Mia Schem, 21, and Amit Soussana, 40 were released by Hamas earlier Thursday.
This picture taken from southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke rising from buildings still after being hit by Israeli strikes in the battles between Israel and Hamas militants, on December 1, 2023
Israel resumed its bombing campaign of Gaza this morning as the week-long truce ended
It was reported that there were dead and wounded as a result of the Israeli army’s attack on a building in Rafah in south Gaza
Israeli forces take a Palestinian into custody as they intervene in Palestinians gathering at Wadi al-Joz neighborhood to perform Friday prayer in East Jerusalem on December 01, 2023
This picture taken from southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke rising from buildings after being hit by Israeli strikes, as battles resume between Israel and Hamas militants, on December 1, 2023
Within minutes of announcing the resumption of the conflict, Israeli air raids struck the Palestinian city of Rahaf in the southern Gaza Strip
