After multiple violations of the cease-fire by Hamas, the IDF has just announced that it has resumed its military offensive on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The war is suddenly back on, just one week after it began.
At 5:42 a.m. local time, Hamas fired rockets at the Israeli border city of Sderot.
Then, at just after 7 a.m. – in another violation of the very cease-fire that Hamas and its allies and mouthpieces demanded – the terrorist group fired another rocket at Israeli civilians.
The IDF Spokesperson's office released a statement announcing: "Hamas violated the agreement and also fired at Israeli territory. We renewed our fire against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip."
The IDF announced at 7:30 a.m. that Israeli Air Force fighter planes were striking Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip.
Arab media in Gaza reported IDF airstrikes in the town of Al Qarara, north of Khan Younis.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza government media office said that "the international community bears responsibility for the continuation of Israel's war in the Gaza Strip."
The rocket attacks came one day after the terror attack in Jerusalem yesterday that left three Israeli Jews dead and 11 Israelis wounded. Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency reported that both of the terrorists were affiliated with the Hamas terror organization and had a history of incarceration in Israeli prisons.
The Prime Minister's Office released a statement about the end of the cease-fire.
"The Hamas-ISIS terrorist organization has violated the outline. It has not met its obligation to release all of the women hostages today and has launched rockets at Israeli citizens. Upon the resumption of fighting, we emphasize: The Government of Israel is committed to achieving the goals of the war: Releasing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to the residents of Israel."
With the resumption of hostilities, Israel's Home Front Command announced that people living in the Gaza Envelope should stay near protected spaces.
Hebrew news site Maariv reported on Friday morning that a senior Israeli official said that during the night, Egypt and Qatar tried to continue the mediation of the agreement, however, Hamas did not provide the list of abductees for release. Israel had demanded the release of all women being held hostage in Gaza.
Shortly after, Hamas refused to provide a list of captives, the terrorist group began firing rockets again.
According to Walla News, Egyptian and Qatari efforts to resume the cease-fire and the release of hostages will continue despite the resumption of hostilities.
More concerning, Hamas alleges it does not know how many of the hostages are still alive.
CBS News reported on Friday that Hamas has offered to give evidence that the Bibas family was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
In an interview with CBS, Hamas senior official Dr. Gazi Hamad was asked: "How many hostages do you have left in your hands that are still alive?"
His response was: "I don't know. The number is not so important."
There have been multiple rocket launches in the three hours after Israel announced the end of the temporary cease-fire and resumption of war operations.
Republished with permission from All Israel News.