[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] - The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expired early Friday morning
- Negotiations broke down as dozens of hostages remain trapped in Gaza
Israel this morning relaunched its brutal offensive on Hamas, firing a barrage of missiles and sending warplanes screaming over Gaza as a week-long ceasefire expired.
The truce officially expired at 7am local time (5am GMT), but the IDF claimed that Hamas 'violated' the ceasefire early and launched rockets on Israel in the early hours, with footage shared to social media appearing to show attacks on the city of Sderot close to the border with Gaza.
In response, the 'IDF renewed fire against the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip', Israeli military announced on X.
Just under an hour before the ceasefire officially expired, the IDF claimed it had 'intercepted' another attack, adding that a 'number' of rockets had been fired by Hamas before the truce ended.
The Hamas-led health ministry in Gaza said 14 people had been killed in the first two hours after fighting resumed. Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, there were '14 dead and dozens injured, most of them women and children'.
Though the seven-day truce offered a welcome reprieve from bloodshed and saw Hamas release dozens of Israeli and foreign hostages, dozens more remain trapped inside Gaza as fighting resumed this morning.
Yet despite the fresh violence, Qatari and Egyptian mediators are still negotiating a new extension of the seven-day truce, according to a source who spoke anonymously with AFP.
'Negotiations are still ongoing with Qatari and Egyptian mediators despite the resumption of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza,' the source said.
Within minutes of announcing the resumption of military action in Gaza, Israeli forces bombarded the northwest with rocket fire, and aircraft were seen circling the skies overhead, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior in Gaza.
The dramatic re-escalation of the conflict saw strikes land in the southern Gaza regions of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Reports indicate tanks have been swiftly positioned to the area, and in a tweet half an hour after the relaunch, the IDF said it had deployed 'warplanes' focused on the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas 'didn't respect its obligation to release today all the abducted women and launched rockets toward the citizens of Israel.'
He insisted that because the conflict is now back on, the 'government of Israel is obliged to accomplish the targets of the fighting', which he claimed was to 'release the hostages' and 'to liquidate Hamas.'
Hours before the ceasefire officially ended at 7am Friday morning in the war-torn region, footage purported to show rocket sirens sounding near the Israel-Palestine border for the first time in a week.
According to footage posted on social media by a reporter from Yeshiva World News, a Jewish outlet, sirens could be heard in Sderot followed by sounds of a large explosion.
Further surveillance video also appeared to show a rocket launch towards Sderot intercepted by the Iron Dome. It is unclear if reports of a blast in Sderot are the same incident the Israeli military claimed it had 'intercepted.'
Reports of Telegram communications from the Shehab News Agency, considered tied to Hamas, had also claimed gunfire and several explosions struck northern Gaza earlier on Friday.
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