Hezbollah fires rockets towards Israel as seven-day truce ends

The firing of rockets towards Israel has commenced from the Hezbollah side in Lebanon after the truce between Hamas and Israel ended on Friday.

Reports said sirens have been sounded in the southern part of Israel since Friday morning. Alerts were sounded in Shear Yeshuv, HaGoshrim, Dafna and Beit Hillel areas.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has continued its offensive in Gaza and is expected to increase its attack in Khan Younis area. The top leadership of Hamas, including Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, allegedly the key minds behind the 7 October attacks, are believed to be hiding in the Khan Younis area.

Earlier on Friday, Israel resumed combat operations against the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza, accusing it of violating the truce agreement by firing toward the Jewish state, thus ending the seven-day ceasefire.

In a post on X, the IDF said: "Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory. The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza."

The truce, which was only renewed at the last minute for the seventh day on Thursday, was set to expire again at around 7 a.m. local time (about 10.30 a.m. IST) on Friday, 1 December.

Thursday's extension was the second of the initial four-day truce that commenced on 24 November.

It was extended for two more days on Tuesday.

Since the start of the pause, 240 Palestinians, 86 Israelis, and 24 foreign nationals have reportedly been released.

Shortly before the seven-day truce was set to expire, Israel said it shot down a rocket fired from Gaza while media outlets affiliated with the Hamas group reported explosions and gunfire in northern Gaza, reports the BBC.

Several air strikes have hit the southern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run interior and national security ministry said on its Telegram account.