• At least 184 killed on Friday alone
• Talks collapsed overnight over Israeli demand to free women soldiers
• UN laments ‘catastrophic’ resumption of fighting in Gaza

GAZA: Despite indications that the truce would be extended, Israel resumed its deadly bombardment of the densely-inhabited Palestinian territory on Friday, ignoring international calls to continue a ceasefire, with health officials reporting 184 deaths on Friday.

Medics and witnesses said the bombing was most intensive in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been sheltering. Houses in the central and northern parts of Gaza were also hit, while missiles fired by Palestinian groups towards Israel were also seen.

Outside the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, a man in a blue sweater bellowed in grief and turned his face to the sky after viewing a dead teenage boy in a body bag, AFPTV footage showed. “What did he do wrong? God, what did we do to deserve this?” he yelled.

The pause, which began on Nov 24 and was extended twice, had allowed for daily exchanges of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza for Palestinian detainees, while trucks brought in aid. However, until Thursday night, mediators were keen for a new two-day extension. But at the last minute, mediators failed to find a formula to release more prisoners.

Each side said the other had rejected terms to extend the truce.

Hamas said the blame for failure to agree on a truce extension lay with Israel which had “persistently” rejected offers of prisoner releases.

“Throughout the night, indirect negotiations unfolded to extend the truce, within which we proposed exchanges involving prisoners and elderly people, as well as the handover of bodies of Israeli detainees who lost their lives due to Zionist bombings,” the movement said in a statement. According to the BBC, the group also blamed US President Joe Biden for “the continuation of Zionist war crimes in the Gaza Strip” and “giving the green light to Israel”.

Israel said week-long deal could have been extended further, with the government already approving a list of Palestinian prisoners for release in order “to proceed with an exchange for at least another two days”.A Palestinian official familiar with the Israel-Hamas third-party talks said they collapsed overnight over Israel’s demand that Hamas free female soldiers, whom he said were completely separate from the prisoners. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

‘Evacuate immediately’

Leaflets dropped by Israeli forces on eastern areas of the main southern city Khan Yunis ordered residents of four towns to evacuate — not to other areas in Khan Yunis as in the past, but further south to the crowded town of Rafah on the Egyptian border.

“You have to evacuate immediately and go to the shelters in the Rafah area. Khan Yunis is a dangerous fighting zone. You have been warned,” said the leaflets, written in Arabic.

Israel also released a link to a map showing Gaza divided into hundreds of districts, which it said would be used in future to communicate which areas were safe.

Despite the resumption of Israeli air strikes on Gaza, mediators were continuing to shuttle between the two sides.

The United Nations chief and the White House called for the break in fighting to be restored, and UN agencies warned of a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation as bombs fell and hospitals again struggled to cope with the wounded after a week-long respite. A White House NSC spokesperson said that “We continue to work with Israel, Egypt, and Qatar on efforts to extend the humanitarian pause in Gaza,”.

“I deeply regret that military operations have started again in Gaza,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on X, formerly Twitter.

Five prisoners confirmed dead

The Israeli army on Friday confirmed the deaths of five prisoners held in Gaza, saying their families had been informed, and the body of one of them returned to Israel.

“In recent days, the IDF (military) and Israel police notified the families of Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovitz about their deaths,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2023