Truce in the Middle East ceased - 137 Israelis and foreigners remain hostages of Hamas

The end of the fragile truce. Middle East again heard explosions and gunshots. Both sides of the conflict blame each other for the failure of agreements. Meanwhile, 137 Israelis and foreigners remain hostages of Hamas. Coincidence or not, the fighting resumed with renewed vigor after U.S. Secretary of State Blinken visited Israel. The essence of his visit was just a populist call to extend the truce and a more realistic one to remove Hamas from power by any means necessary.

Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State:

“Israel has the right to do everything in its power to ensure that the Hamas massacre of October 7 never happened again. Hamas cannot remain in power in Gaza, it must not retain the ability to repeat the massacre.”

More than 100 people have already been killed on the first day of the end of the truce, according to the enclave's Health Ministry. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called the situation a catastrophe. The entry of humanitarian aid trucks through the Rafah checkpoint has now been halted. Qatar's Foreign Ministry issued an official statement noting that despite the renewed fighting, talks between the two sides of the conflict are ongoing to reopen the pause.