Tel Aviv/Gaza, 1 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it "resumed combat" minutes after its ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza expired early on Friday.

"The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip," the Israeli military said minutes after the ceasefire expired at 7am (0500 GMT) on Friday, a week after it began.

"Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory," the IDF added.

Shortly before the deadline for the Gaza ceasefire expired, the Israeli military said that its air defence had intercepted a suspected rocket from the Gaza Strip.

Israel and the Islamist group Hamas initially agreed to a four-day truce which began November 24. The pause was then extended to 7 am on Friday. Shortly before the deadline it had been unclear whether the ceasefire would be renewed again.

According to the original agreement, the ceasefire could be extended to a maximum of 10 days as long as Hamas continued to release hostages kidnapped during bloody October 7 attacks on Israel, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The ceasefire has also facilitated the delivery desperately needed aid to flow into the densely populated Gaza Strip.

Israel on Thursday said that more than 150 people were still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.

During the unprecedented October 7 attacks, Hamas fighters killed some 1,200 people in Israeli border communities near Gaza and about 240 were abducted and held in the coastal strip.

Israel responded by launching its heaviest bombardment of the densely populated Gaza Strip to date and also began a ground offensive into the coastal area, where Hamas seized power by force in 2007.

Since the beginning of the war, some 15,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 36,000 have been wounded, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

The figures cannot currently be independently verified.

Photo: MIA archive