Israel’s military said it was resuming combat operations in Gaza on Friday morning after the temporary truce with Hamas that had paved the way for hostage releases broke down.

Israeli aircraft were in the skies over northwest Gaza and military vehicles were also firing in the area, minutes after the truce expired on Friday, according to a statement from the Hamas-control Ministry of Interior in Gaza.

Israel accused Hamas of violating the agreement by firing towards Israel. Just over an hour before the truce expired, the Israel Defense Forces said its defense system intercepted one rocket that was launched from the Gaza Strip.

There was no immediate response from Hamas on the rocket launch accusation.

Israel had repeatedly stated it would resume its military assault in Gaza if Hamas could not produce 10 hostages for each extra day of pause.  As the 7 a.m. local time deadline (midnight ET) passed, the hostilities resumed almost immediately.

The hard-negotiated temporary truce, which began last Friday, was extended by two days following the release of some captives held by Hamas. An agreement to extend to a seventh day came down to the wire on Thursday.


It marked the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the latest conflict which began when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 200 hostages.


The truce brought temporary respite to the besieged enclave of Gaza, which had been relentlessly pounded by Israel’s military since the Hamas attack.

Since October 7, more than 14,800 people, including 6,000 children, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank, which draws its data from Hamas-run health authorities in the Strip.

As the truce expiration loomed, both Israel and Hamas indicated they were prepared for fighting to resume.

“We should be prepared for a quick transition into full scale fighting at any point, today, tomorrow, at any moment. As soon as we maximize the move to return hostages we will resume fierce fighting across the whole Gaza Strip,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Thursday.

Hamas’ armed wing on Thursday also told their forces to “remain on high combat readiness” in the final hours of the truce, the Al-Qassam Brigades said on Telegram.

Egyptian and Qatari negotiators had been pushing to extend the pause in fighting in Gaza for an extra two days to facilitate the release of further hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and to allow more aid into the strip, according to Egypt’s State Information Service.

But negotiators warned that continuing to extend the truce into an eighth day could be challenging. The previous day, Hamas had claimed until the last minute that it was having trouble locating 10 women and child hostages — a condition that Israel insisted must be met — to extend the truce.

A member of Israel’s parliament told CNN the government would be willing to discuss a different framework for the release of men and soldiers held by the militant group — so long as the hostage releases continue.

“Hamas wants to set new terms for the men and the Israeli soldiers,” Danny Danon said, adding that “we are close to the end” of the current phase of the deal.

“They want a different equation. Now we have one Israeli hostage for three Palestinian prisoners, and they want to try and change that ratio. As long as they can provide hostages, we are willing to talk,” he said.

In the seven-day pause in fighting, 80 Israelis — primarily women and children and some of whom are dual citizens — and another 24 foreign nationals have been released. Another Israeli dual citizen was also freed outside of the agreed-upon deal.

As of Thursday, 240 Palestinians had been freed from Israeli prisons – mainly women and minors. Under the terms of the truce deal, Israel has to free three Palestinians for every Israeli hostage released. CNN