Israel-Hamas war combat resumes in Gaza as Israelis accuse the Palestinian group

The temporary cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas ended Friday morning after a week, as both parties confirmed that hostilities had resumed after Israel accused the militant group of violating the terms of the truce. Israeli war planes hit targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 60 people, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in the Palestinian territory, as rocket warning sirens blared in southern Israel.

About an hour before the cease-fire was set to expire at 7 a.m. local time (midnight Eastern), the Israeli military said the country’s missile defense system had detected and intercepted a rocket fired toward Israeli territory from Gaza. Air raid sirens were heard in southern Israel Friday morning and schools in central Israel were told to open only if they have bomb shelters. Otherwise, classes were to be held remotely.

“Hamas violated the operational pause and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory,” the IDF said in a social media post. “The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip.”

The government of Qatar, where negotiations have been taking place for weeks and where the terms of the cease-fire were agreed, expressed “deep regret” at the resumption of hostilities. It said “negotiations between the the two sides are continuing with the aim of returning to a pause.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his third visit to Israel since the war began, met Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and cautioned Israel to protect civilians in Gaza.

“Israel has one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world,” Blinken told reporters. “It is capable of neutralizing the threat posed by Hamas while minimizing harm to innocent men, women and children. And it has an obligation to do so.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he deeply regretted that fighting had resumed in Gaza.

“I still hope that it will be possible to renew the pause that was established,” Guterres said on social media. “The return to hostilities only shows how important it is to have a true humanitarian ceasefire.”

Hamas said negotiations had taken place throughout the night in an effort to agree a third extension of the pause in fighting, and that it had made offers including returning the bodies of a mother and her two young children who had been among the hostages seized by the group during its unprecedented Oct. 7 terror attack.  

“The occupation refused to deal with all these offers, because it had made a predisposed decision to resume the criminal aggression,” Hamas claimed in a statement, attributing “full responsibility” for the resumption of the war to Israel and the Biden administration for its “absolute support for Israel.”

“Back to the nightmarish situation” in Gaza  

After a strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Friday, CBS News’ Marwan al-Ghoul found a boy at the scene in tears.  

“We were there collecting water to wash our clothes. The bombing started and the rocks came flying at us,” the teen, Omar Hahrous, told CBS News. “I looked around me and I could not find anybody. Some were injured… some were martyred.”