An Israeli Air Force helicopter carrying an Israeli hostage launched by Hamas lands on the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023.

Ariel Schalit/AP

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Ariel Schalit/AP

An Israeli Air Force helicopter carrying an Israeli hostage launched by Hamas lands on the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023.

Ariel Schalit/AP

Israeli fighter jets hit Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip on Friday shortly after a weeklong truce expired, the army mentioned, because the warfare resumed in full pressure.

Airstrikes hit southern Gaza, together with the neighborhood of Abassan east of the city of Khan Younis, the Interior Ministry within the Hamas-run territory mentioned. Another strike hit a house northwest of Gaza City.

Loud, steady explosions have been heard coming from the Gaza Strip and black smoke billowed from the territory.

In Israel, sirens blared at three communal farms close to Gaza warning of incoming rocket hearth, suggesting Hamas had additionally resumed its assaults.

The Israeli army’s announcement of the strikes got here solely half-hour after the cease-fire expired at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) Friday.

Earlier Friday, Israel accused Hamas of getting violated the phrases of the cease-fire, together with by firing rockets towards Israel from Gaza.

The halt in combating started Nov. 24. It initially lasted for 4 days, after which was prolonged for a number of days with the assistance of Qatar and fellow mediator Egypt.

During the week-long truce, Hamas and different militants in Gaza launched greater than 100 hostages, most of them Israelis, in return for 240 Palestinians free of prisons in Israel.

Virtually all of these freed have been girls and youngsters, however the truth that few such hostages remained in Gaza difficult reaching a deal for an additional extension.

Hamas, a militant group that has dominated Gaza for 16 years, had additionally been anticipated to set a better worth for the remaining hostages, particularly Israeli troopers. About 140 hostages stay in Gaza, with greater than 100 having been freed as a part of the truce.

Qatar and Egypt, which have performed a key function as mediators had sought to lengthen the truce by one other two days.

Israel has been beneath rising stress from its major ally, the United States, to do extra to guard Palestinian civilians when it resumes its strikes in opposition to Hamas.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and different high officers on his third go to to the area because the begin of the warfare two months in the past.

While expressing hope on the time that the cease-fire could possibly be prolonged, Blinken mentioned that if Israel resumed the warfare and moved in opposition to southern Gaza to pursue Hamas, it should accomplish that in “compliance with international humanitarian law” and will need to have “a clear plan in place” to guard civilians. He mentioned Israeli leaders understood that “the massive levels of civilian life and displacement scale we saw in the north must not be repeated in the south.”

Israel had mentioned it will preserve the truce till Hamas stops releasing captives, and vowed then to renew its marketing campaign to crush Hamas, even because the Biden administration has urged it to function with far better precision if it does so.

Most of Gaza’s inhabitants is now crammed into the south with no exit, elevating questions over how an Israeli offensive there can keep away from heavy civilian casualties.

Netanyahu had been beneath intense stress from households of the hostages to deliver them residence. But his far-right governing companions have been additionally pushing him to proceed the warfare till Hamas is destroyed, and will abandon his coalition if he’s seen as making too many concessions.

A complete of 83 Israelis, together with twin nationals, have been freed through the truce, most of whom appeared bodily effectively however shaken. Another 24 hostages — 23 Thais and one Filipino — have been additionally launched, together with a number of males.

It’s not clear how lots of the remaining girls hostages are troopers.

Israel has mentioned round 125 males are nonetheless held hostage.

Before the cease-fire, Hamas launched 4 hostages, and the Israeli military rescued one. Two others have been discovered lifeless in Gaza.

The 240 Palestinians launched up to now beneath the cease-fire have been largely youngsters accused of throwing stones and firebombs throughout confrontations with Israeli forces. Several of the freed girls have been convicted by army courts of making an attempt to assault troopers, a few of them after being discovered carrying scissors or knives close to safety positions.

Hamas began the warfare with a lethal Oct. 7 assault on Israel, throughout which it and different Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, and took round 240 individuals captive. Authorities have solely supplied approximate figures.

Since then, Israel’s bombardment and invasion in Gaza have killed greater than 13,300 Palestinians, roughly two-thirds of them girls and minors, in line with the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. More than three-quarters of the inhabitants of two.3 million have been uprooted, after weeks of Israeli bombardment and a floor marketing campaign, resulting in a humanitarian disaster.

The toll is probably going a lot increased, as officers have solely sporadically up to date the depend since Nov. 11. The ministry says hundreds extra individuals are feared lifeless beneath the rubble.

Israel says 77 of its troopers have been killed within the floor offensive. It claims to have killed hundreds of militants, with out offering proof.

Palestinians in Gaza have known as for a everlasting finish to the warfare, saying the short-term truces do not resolve the humanitarian disaster within the territory. Over 1.8 million individuals have fled their houses, with greater than 1 million sheltering in U.N. faculties and struggling to seek out fundamental objects together with cooking gasoline and flour.