Heavy fighting was reported in Gaza on Friday as Israel's military resumed combat operations against Hamas after accusing the Palestinian militant group of violating a temporary truce by firing towards Israeli territory. The seven-day pause, which began on Nov. 24 and was extended twice, had allowed for the exchange of dozens of hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and facilitated the entry of humanitarian aid into the shattered coastal strip.
Heavy fighting was reported in Gaza as Israel's military said it had resumed combat operations against Hamas after accusing the Palestinian militant group of violating a temporary truce by firing rockets towards Israeli territory https://t.co/KDHZwfMkJ6 pic.twitter.com/LoQGovhiOI
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 1, 2023
In the hour before the truce was set to end at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT), Israel said it intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza. There was no immediate comment from Hamas or claim of responsibility for the launches. Palestinian media reported Israeli air and artillery strikes across the enclave after the truce expired, including in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
Fighting resumes in the Gaza Strip with the end of the ceasefire . #FreeGazazFromHamas #FreePalestine #HamasTerrorrists #HamasislSIS #FreePalestineFromZionist #Gaza #Israel pic.twitter.com/8E03GNNaaz
— Israel war video report (@WKazingmei) December 1, 2023
In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, a Reuters witness said he could hear heavy shelling and see smoke rising in the east of the town. People were fleeing the area to camps in the west of Khan Younis for cover, he added. The resumption of fighting came with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about to depart Israel. Blinken said on Thursday he told Israeli leaders they must not repeat the scale of destruction and displacement inflicted on the northern Gaza Strip as they prepare a military push farther south to eradicate Hamas. That reflects a shift in tone by the Biden administration toward increasingly stern messages that Israel must comply with international humanitarian law.
➤BIDEN FACES CRITICS IN HIS OWN ADMIN: Joe Biden is facing a wave of internal criticism, NBC reported, with officials in the State Department, USAID and Congress expressing concern at the Israel-Hamas war. With 15,000 Gazans killed in seven weeks of bombardment , many inside the Biden administration feel that the White House should do more to rein-in Israel. Only one person has publicly resigned due to the Gaza onslaught - Josh Paul (right), a director in the State Department's political-military affairs bureau, which oversees U.S. arms transfers. But sources told NBC News that the internal unrest - including statements in open letters from government employees - exceeds anything felt in the last 40 years, including the Iraq War and Donald Trump 's Muslim ban.
➤WHAT DID ISRAEL KNOW AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT: A bombshell report has claimed Israeli intelligence had an intimate understanding of Hamas' October 7 attack blueprint over a year prior, but brushed it off as it was deemed unachievable. In a 40-page document obtained by The New York Times, Hamas laid out a detailed plan to carry out its assault on Israel that ultimately led to the deaths of approximately 1,200 people. The battle plan reportedly did not set a date for the attack, but offered an exhaustive look at the terrorist group's strategy, including a focus on fortifications around the Gaza Strip, while storming key military bases and division headquarters. According to the outlet, the plans within the document were followed by Hamas with chilling precision in the attacks last month, raising questions as to why Israel failed to take steps to prevent it. It is also claimed that officials conceded they could have prevented, or at least diminished, the October 7 attacks had they taken a number of dire warnings from analysts seriously.
➤ISRAEL TO HUNT DOWN HAMAS LEADERSHIP: Israel’s intelligence services are preparing to kill Hamas leaders around the world when the nation’s war in the Gaza Strip winds down, setting the stage for a yearslong campaign to hunt down militants responsible for the Oct. 7 massacres, Israeli officials said. With orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s top spy agencies are working on plans to hunt down Hamas leaders living in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar, the small Gulf nation that has allowed the group to run a political office in Doha for a decade, the officials said.
The Wall Street Journal reports the assassination campaign would be an extension of Israel’s decades long clandestine operations that have become the subject of both Hollywood legend and worldwide condemnation. Israeli assassins have hunted Palestinian militants in Beirut while dressed as women, and killed a Hamas leader in Dubai while disguised as tourists. Israel has used a car bomb to assassinate a Hezbollah leader in Syria and a remote-controlled rifle to kill a nuclear scientist in Iran, according to former Israeli officials.
➤STOCKS END NOVEMBER WITH A BANG: The Dow Jones Average rose more than 500 points yesterday to bring the month of November to an upbeat end. The Dow ended up at just over 38,000, its biggest number for the year. Investors were apparently celebrating the expectation that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates for now.An internal government watchdog is launching an investigation into the process behind the selection of a site in Maryland for the FBI's new headquarters. https://t.co/QXUHECinqO
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) December 1, 2023
➤TRUMP GAG ORDER REINSTATED: An appeals court yesterday reinstated the limited gag order imposed on Donald Trump by Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the former president’s fraud trial in New York. An attorney for Trump called the new ruling “a tragic day for the rule of law.” The gag order forbids the former president to lob personal insults towards court staff members and his own family. The judge says his chambers have been “inundated” with threats.Hours before the gag order was reinstated, Trump renewed his personal attacks in social media posts referring to the judge’s “Trump Hating wife” and his “very disturbed and angry law clerk.”
➤DeSANTIS GETS UNDER NEWSOM'S SKIN: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got under Gavin Newsom’s skin on Thursday night when he revealed the California governor’s own father-in-law is among the millions that have fled the blue state in recent years — for the Sunshine State. “So, I was talking to a fella who had made the move from California to Florida, and he was telling me that Florida is much better governed, safer, better budget, lower taxes, all this stuff, and he’s really happy with the quality of life,” DeSantis said during a Fox News debate with his California counterpart. “And then he paused, and he said, ‘You know, by the way, I’m Gavin Newsom’s father-in-law.”