War rages on in Gaza as truce delayed until Friday

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters): War raged on in Gaza on Thursday as a proposed truce and release of hostages was delayed for at least another day.

More than a day after plans were unveiled for the conflict’s first ceasefire, the anticipated announcement of the official start time had yet to materialise. Israel said it would not begin at least until Friday.

Clouds of smoke could be seen billowing above northern Gaza’s war zone from across the fence in Israel as daylight broke over the Gaza Strip, accompanied by the sounds of heavy gunfire and booming explosions.

In Rafah on the strip’s southern edge, residents combed with bare hands through the ruins of a house smashed in a giant crater. A grey-bearded man wailed amid the shattered masonry while another man lay a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Neighbour Khaled Hamad told Reuters it was the home of a primary school teacher, killed inside with his children. The Israeli military said it had launched 300 air strikes in the past day.

“The negotiations on the release of our hostages are advancing and continuing constantly,” Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a statement overnight. “The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday.”

The first pause in the seven-week-old war is meant to be accompanied by the release of 50 women and children hostages captured by militants who raided Israel on Oct. 7, in exchange for 150 Palestinian detainees from Israeli jails.

Israel has said the truce could last beyond the initial four days as long as the militants free at least 10 hostages per day. A Palestinian source has said a second wave of releases could see as many as 100 hostages go free by month’s end.

Both sides have said they will go back to fighting once the truce is over.

“We are not ending the war. We will continue until we are victorious,” the chief of the Israeli general staff, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, told commanders in a video released by the military on Thursday.

Israel launched its war in Gaza after gunmen from Hamas burst across the border fence, killing 1,200 people and seizing about 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 14,000 Gazans have been killed by Israeli bombardment, around 40% of them children, according to health authorities in the Hamas-ruled territory.