Israel and the US blame Hamas for ending the ceasefire

2023-12-02 16:17:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Israeli forces intensified the bombing of the Gaza Strip today. This marks the second day of fighting since the end of a week-long ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group.

The warring parties blame each other for breaking the ceasefire. Since fighting resumed two days ago, the Israeli military says it has struck more than 400 militant group targets.

Israeli government spokesman Ofir Gendelman said that the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is mainly to blame for the breakdown of negotiations on the continuation of the ceasefire in the nearly two-month Israel-Hamas war.

Mr. Gendelman accused Hamas on Saturday of refusing to release more hostages, which he said led to the resumption of fighting in Gaza.

"This decision has a name and it is the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. It is he who prefers to continue torturing our hostages and keep them in inhumane conditions contrary to any international norm or religious morality. He doesn't care at all about the consequences of this decision for the residents of Gaza, who want to continue the ceasefire and return to their normal lives," says Israeli government spokesman Ofir Gendelman.

Washington also blamed Hamas for the ceasefire breakdown.

"The cause of the end of the pause in the fighting is Hamas because the militant group did not provide a new list of names of hostages to be released," said John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House.

Explosions in the eastern part of the city of Khan Younis in Gaza began in the early hours of Saturday as Israeli airstrikes targeted the city in the southern part of the Palestinian territory.

Israel says its ground, air and naval forces hit more than 400 "terrorist targets" in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday in Dubai that Israel has begun taking steps to reduce the number of civilian casualties in its confrontation with Hamas by "giving information to the Palestinians about where the safe areas are" to avoid places where they want to go. to carry out bombings.

"The Israeli army called our neighbors and asked us to leave because our houses were going to be hit. We told them we have nothing here, why are you going to hit us? They said. 'It is better for you to leave,' says Hekmat Al Qedra, a resident of a house in Khan Younis in Gaza that was destroyed by Israeli strikes.

Hamas media said that around 200 Palestinians had been killed since the end of the ceasefire, raising the number of Palestinian casualties that, according to unconfirmed figures from the Palestinian militant group's authorities, have exceeded the figure of 15,000 killed since the start of the war.

Meanwhile, in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, members of the Shia Houthi Movement paraded through the streets of the city on Saturday as they announced that they will leave for the Gaza Strip to fight against Israel.

Footage showed young recruits marching through the streets, armed with rifles and carrying Palestinian flags.

"On this great day, the Yemeni people affirm their readiness to defend the noble Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and join the Mujahideen in Palestine," says Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi, a member of the Supreme Political Council of the Houthi movement in Yemen.

The war in the Middle East broke out on October 7 with the terrorist attack by Hamas in the south of Israel, where 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and 240 others were taken hostage./ VOA