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.



Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.