After the ceasefire expired, the Israeli army attacked Gaza

By Mayan Lubel, Emily Rose, Nidal Al-Mughrabi, and James McKenzie

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli warplanes and artillery bombarded the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday and Palestinian medics said eight people were killed as Israel and Hamas reneged on a deadline for a ceasefire to end the Middle East’s worst conflict. Over the years.

The delay in implementing the ceasefire and the latest violence came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an hour before the 0630 GMT deadline, demanded that Hamas provide the names of three hostages due to be released on Sunday as part of the deal.

Hamas has said it is committed to a ceasefire but has so far been unable to provide a list of hostages on “technical grounds”.

Israeli officials say the ceasefire could help end the Gaza war, which began after Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the tiny coastal territory, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people.

Israel’s response has damaged the Gaza Strip and killed nearly 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza-based health officials. The war has fueled regional conflict in the Middle East between Israel and its arch-enemy, Iran, along with Hamas and other anti-Israeli and anti-American militias.

Israel’s military spokesman said in a series of statements on Sunday that its planes and artillery had struck “terrorist targets” in northern and central Gaza and that the military would continue to attack until Hamas complied with its ceasefire obligations.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Services said at least eight people were killed and dozens wounded in the Israeli attack. Medics said tanks fired at the Zeitun area of ​​Gaza City, while airstrikes and tank fire hit northern Beit Hanon, sending residents fleeing back to await a ceasefire.

The air raid sirens heard in the southern Israeli area of ​​Siderot were a false alarm, the Israeli military said in a separate statement.

Some gunfire and cheers were heard at 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) for the ceasefire to take effect in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Hamas supporters reported on Sunday that Israeli troops had begun withdrawing from areas in Gaza’s Rafah to the Philadelphia Corridor, which borders Egypt and Gaza.

Hostage list

Netanyahu’s request for a list of the first three hostages released in the hours since the ceasefire came an hour before the deadline.

The Prime Minister instructed the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) that the ceasefire, which was supposed to take effect at 8:30 a.m., would not begin until Israel received the list of freed people that Hamas had promised to hand over. He said on Sunday.

Hamas said the hostages’ names could be released soon, although the delay was “technical”.

The three-phase ceasefire followed months of negotiations brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, and was reached shortly before US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

The first phase will last for six weeks, during which 33 of the 98 hostages – women, children, men over 50 years old, sick and wounded – will be released in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

They include 737 male, female and teenage prisoners, some of whom are members of militant groups convicted of attacks that have killed dozens of Israelis, as well as hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza who have been held since the war began.

The first three female hostages are expected to be released by the Red Cross on Sunday. In exchange for each, 30 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons are to be released.

According to the agreement, Hamas will inform the International Committee of the Red Cross of the location of the meeting point in Gaza, and the official involved in the process is expected to begin driving the ICRC to that location to collect the hostages. he told Reuters.

End the war?

After Sunday’s hostages were released, US President Brett McGurk said the deal called for the release of four more female hostages after seven days, followed by three more hostages every seven days.

US President Joe Biden’s team worked closely with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Wittkoff to push the deal through the cracks.

In the run-up to his inauguration, Trump repeatedly warned that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released, and repeated his demands for a speedy deal.

But in the absence of a comprehensive agreement on its future after the war, it is unclear what will happen in Gaza, which will require billions of dollars and years of work to rebuild.

And while a cease-fire is intended to end hostilities altogether, it can easily be dissolved.

Hamas, which had controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, survived despite losing its top leadership and thousands of fighters.

Israel has declared that it will not allow Hamas to return to power and has cleared large areas in Gaza. This move is widely seen to be to create a buffer zone that will allow its troops to freely defend against threats in the state.

In Israel, the return of the hostages could ease some of the public anger against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government over the Oct. 7 security crisis that marked one of the deadliest days in the country’s history.

MIDDLEAST SHOCKWAVES

The war sparked a conflict with the Tehran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon and brought Israel into direct conflict with its arch-rival Iran for the first time.

It also changed the Middle East. Iran, which has spent billions building a network of militant groups around Israel, has seen its “resilience curve” collapse and has been unable to inflict more than minor damage on Israel with two large-scale missile attacks.

Hezbollah, whose massive missile arsenal was seen as a major threat to Israel, saw its top leaders killed and most of its missiles and military infrastructure destroyed.

On the diplomatic side, Israel faces anger and isolation over the death and destruction in Gaza.

Netanyahu faces war crimes and genocide warrants at the International Court of Justice.

Israel has reacted angrily to both cases, dismissing the charges as politically motivated and accusing South Africa, the first ICJ case, and the participating countries of anti-Semitism.