After a week, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip expired. What does the resurgence of violence mean for the remaining hostages and the civilian population of the coastal area?
The ceasefire is over: Israel’s army says it has resumed fighting against the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In the morning, the week-long break in fighting ended without any further extension. What happened? The most important questions and answers.
Why has the deadline for a ceasefire expired?
Israel accuses the Islamist Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement. The Israeli army said the terrorists had fired into Israeli territory. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had also failed to fulfill their obligation to release all female hostages. Israel suspects that 15 women and children are still being held by Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas accuses Israel of refusing to accept all offers aimed at releasing more hostages throughout the night in negotiations over a continuation of the ceasefire.
What does the continuation of the fighting mean for people?
The suffering population is completely worn out after around seven weeks of war. Aid workers speak of a dramatic humanitarian crisis. In the south of the Gaza Strip, around two million Palestinian civilians are holding out in emergency shelters in a confined space. They fled there after calls from Israel.
A resurgence of fighting will now further worsen their situation. It is likely that terrorists also mingled with the civilians. Since the ceasefire began, more aid supplies – more than 1,000 trucks – have arrived in the Gaza Strip than before. It was initially unclear how much help would be allowed after the break in fighting ended. According to aid organizations, aid last week was only a fraction of the humanitarian supplies needed.
What concerns is the international community?
She fears that the number of civilian victims will rise dramatically again. According to Hamas, almost
15,000 people were killed and more than 36,000 injured. The information could not initially be independently verified. It is also unclear how many of the victims are civilians.
The World Health Organization also warns of the massive spread of disease, which could ultimately cause more deaths than the fighting itself. If Israel’s army increasingly targets the south of the Gaza Strip, it is also questionable how the population there can be protected.
Israel must present humanitarian plans to protect the civilian population before resuming major military operations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently demanded. The plans should specify exactly in which areas civilians in the southern and central Gaza Strip would be safe. Israel’s army announced new security zones for the civilian population on Friday.
Why does Israel want to keep fighting?
Israel wants to destroy Hamas after the terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians on October 7th so that it will never again pose a threat to the residents of Israel. A spokesman for the Islamist organization has already threatened to repeat the massacres. Israel also wants to free all hostages from the Gaza Strip.
The only reason why the terrorist organization released many of the abductees in the past few days was the military and diplomatic pressure that Israel exerted on them, government spokeswoman Tal Heinrich told CNN. The USA, but also Germany, have so far supported Israel’s rejection of a long-term ceasefire.
Is there a chance of another ceasefire?
According to Qatar’s mediator, negotiations on a possible continuation of the ceasefire in the Gaza war are continuing despite the renewed fighting. However, the resumption of fighting made the talks more difficult. In principle, Israel and Hamas agreed the week before last on a time frame for the ceasefire of a maximum of ten days. However, the agreement expired after just seven days. It had previously been extended twice.
Negotiations on a further ceasefire could also be made more difficult by the fact that Hamas is now likely to make significantly higher demands in return for the release of the remaining, mostly male, hostages. Another problem is that, according to the US government, not all of the hostages are in the hands of Hamas. CNN reported, using unnamed diplomatic sources, that there were an estimated 40 hostages held by other groups.
How many hostages and prisoners have been exchanged so far?
Hamas has so far released 105 hostages, including 14 Germans and several foreigners who were released regardless of the agreement between Israel and Hamas. In return, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. These are women and minors, the youngest being 14 years old.
