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On Friday, Israeli warplanes hit targets across the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians, after the three-day truce deal ended. The conflict reared its ugly head again after negotiators failed to extend the ceasefire beyond 05:00 GMT.
Egypt, which has been trying to broker a truce between the Palestinians and Israelis, insisted that the negotiations were still making progress, even while Israel recalled its delegation before warning that it will negotiate under fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his military to retaliate “forcefully” after alleging that Hamas broke the ceasefire first.
A 22-year-old man and a 10-year old boy were among Friday’s fatalities, while at least 20 other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli air strikes, Ashraf al-Qudra, Gaza’s emergency services spokesman, said.
Some Palestinian families in Gaza who had returned back to their homes came back to UN-run shelters after Israeli airstrikes struck the Palestinian enclave. Several hundreds were seen moving into classrooms in the Al-Tuffah district of Gaza City.
Gaza’s Interior Ministry said that Israeli warplanes hit targets in Jabaliya, Gaza City and the Gaza Strip. Israel responded by saying that it was targeting “terror sites” in the region.
“We will continue to strike Hamas, its infrastructure, its operatives and restore security for the state of Israel”, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, spokesman for the Israeli army, said.
Egypt on Friday called for an immediate return to peace and said that progress was made during the negotiations.
Azzam al-Ahmed, the head of Palestine’s delegation in Cairo, said that they were committed to reaching a truce.
“We told the Egyptians (mediators) we are sitting here to achieve a final agreement that restores the rights (of Palestinians)”, he said.
The Egyptian foreign ministry commented on the state of the negotiations, saying, “There had been an agreement on the vast majority of matters that are important to the Palestinian people, but some limited points remained undecided, a matter that should have led to an acceptance to renew the ceasefire”.