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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">Israel resumes carpet bombing Gaza after week-long pause</h1><p class="gmail-">Israeli
planes have been dropping leaflets in the southern city of Khan Younis,
warning civilians to evacuate toward the Egyptian border</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://new.thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)"><font size="1">https://new.thecradle.co/articles/israel-resumes-carpet-bombing-gaza-after-week-long-pause</font></a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span>DEC 1, 2023</span></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="http://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/e38a4578-9021-11ee-b5be-00163e02c055.webp" alt="" width="391" height="220" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>(Photo Credit: John Macdougall/AFP)</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span><p>At
least 21 people have been killed since the Israeli army restarted its
war on Gaza during the early hour of 1 December, after a <a href="https://new.thecradle.co/articles/gaza-israel-truce-extended-in-last-minute-deal">one-week pause</a> that saw the release of dozens of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners.</p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p>According
to local reports, the Al-Qassam Brigades – the armed wing of Hamas –
also resumed hostilities against the invading army in northern Gaza.
Furthermore, rocket attacks against Israel's southern settlements have
been reported, with sirens going off in the city of Ashkelon.</p><p>As
the fighting restarted in the besieged enclave, the Israeli prime
minister's office issued a statement claiming Hamas “violated the
framework, did not meet its obligation to release all hostage women, and
fired rockets at Israel.”</p><p>“Amid the return to combat, we stress
the government of Israel is committed to achieving the goals of the war —
releasing our hostages, eliminating Hamas, and ensuring that Gaza can
never again threaten the people of Israel,” the statement adds.</p><p>National Security Minister <a href="https://new.thecradle.co/articles/stopping-gaza-war-government-dissolution-ben-gvir">Itamar Ben Gvir </a>took
to social media on Friday morning to say Hamas should be destroyed
“without compromises, without deals,” adding that the renewed
bombardment of the world's largest open-air prison must be conducted at
“maximum power.”</p><p>For its part, Gaza's Ministry of Information
released a statement that places the blame on the US and its allies for
the restart of the war.</p><p>"The international community, led by the
United States of America, represented by the US President and his
Secretary of State, bears responsibility for the crimes of the Israeli
occupation and the continuation of the brutal war against civilians,
children, and women in the Gaza Strip," the statement by the Hamas-run
office reads.</p><p>Palestinians sheltering in the southern city of Khan
Younis say Israeli planes have again dropped leaflets warning civilians
to evacuate southwards towards Rafah – a city bordering Egypt that was
targeted by Israeli air raids earlier this morning.</p><p>“There is no
shelter, no safe space for people in Gaza. Many of them have lost their
houses. Hospitals, UN facilities are packed with those who have already
evacuated from other areas,” journalist Hind Khoudary told <i>Al-Jazeera</i>.</p><p><span style="color:rgb(25,25,25)"><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">Members of the Israeli war cabinet are in favor of </span></span><a href="https://new.thecradle.co/articles/Members of the Israeli war cabinet are in favor of expanding the current ground invasion into the southern Gaza Strip, a senior security official told Hebrew news outlet Walla on 17 November."><span style="color:rgb(25,25,25)"><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">expanding</span></span></a><span style="color:rgb(25,25,25)"><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr"> the ground invasion into the southern Gaza Strip, a senior security official </span></span><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/11/17/israel-hamas-war-live-thousands-in-danger-of-death-amid-hospital-siege"><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr">told</span></a><span style="color:rgb(25,25,25)"><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr"> Hebrew news outlet</span></span><i><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr"> Walla</span></i><span style="color:rgb(25,25,25)"><span lang="EN-US" dir="ltr"> on 17 November. </span></span></p><p>As Israeli jets once more took flight over Gaza, targeting residential neighborhoods and vital infrastructure, the <i>Washington Post</i> reported that US State Secretary <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/30/blinken-pledges-support-for-israel-as-gaza-truce-extend-for-third-time">Anthony Blinken</a> “sped out of his hotel in Israel on its way to the Tel Aviv airport.”</p><p>"Asked onboard his plane, Blinken declined to comment about the end of the pause," the report adds.</p><p>On Thursday, Blinken made his fourth trip to Tel Aviv since <a href="https://new.thecradle.co/articles/was-october-7th-a-hamas-or-israeli-massacre">7 October</a> to meet with Israeli authorities. He reportedly warned them that the longer Israel's <a href="https://new.thecradle.co/articles/white-house-seeks-funding-for-israeli-plan-to-ethnically-cleanse-gaza">ethnic cleansing</a> campaign of Gaza goes on, the more international pressure will build on both the US and Israel to stop it.</p><p>In
an attempt to counter this pressure, the Israeli army has published a
map splitting the Gaza Strip into hundreds of small zones, claiming it
will use this to “notify” Palestinians about “active combat zones.”</p><p>Despite
the restart of hostilities, CNN and BBC reported on Friday morning that
efforts are ongoing to return to the truce in Gaza. The Qatari office
of AFP also cited an unidentified source who said the same.</p></span></div></div></div></div>
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