Netanyahu Says Israel Committed to Wartime Objectives, Fighting Resumes

HANDOUT - 29 November 2023, Israel, Sderot: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) talks with police officers during a visit to the Demolished Sderot Police Station. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/dpa
HANDOUT - 29 November 2023, Israel, Sderot: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) talks with police officers during a visit to the Demolished Sderot Police Station. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/dpa
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Netanyahu Says Israel Committed to Wartime Objectives, Fighting Resumes

HANDOUT - 29 November 2023, Israel, Sderot: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) talks with police officers during a visit to the Demolished Sderot Police Station. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/dpa
HANDOUT - 29 November 2023, Israel, Sderot: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) talks with police officers during a visit to the Demolished Sderot Police Station. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO/dpa

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Hamas did not agree to release further hostages, infringing on terms of a truce, and that Israel remained committed to achieving its objectives as fighting resumed in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas did not release all women hostages as agreed and also launched rockets at Israel, Netanyahu's office said.

"With the resumption of fighting we emphasize: The Israeli government is committed to achieving the goals of the war - to free our hostages, to eliminate Hamas, and to ensure that Gaza will never pose a threat to the residents of Israel," it said.

Heavy fighting was reported in Gaza on Friday as Israel's military resumed combat operations against Hamas.

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.

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.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”