Defense Minister of Israel Yoav Gallant says the military "returned to full combat operations" after Hamas violated a ceasefire agreement with Israel, UNN reports citing the Times of Israel.
He says he ordered the resumption of fire on Friday morning after Hamas refused to release 15 women and two children as part of a truce agreement.
"We are continuing exactly where we left off," he told a news conference.
He said he had inspected Gaza from the air and the border area from the ground over the past two days, calling the results of the renewed IDF offensive "very impressive."
"Thousands of terrorists have been destroyed, dozens of headquarters [have been hit], hundreds of terabytes of information are in our hands, hundreds of terrorists have been captured and are being interrogated in Israel," he said.
"Achievements: 110 hostages returned alive. No army in the world has achieved this against a terrorist organization. We achieved this because of the strength of the IDF," Gallant says.
Recall
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Friday, December 1, that it had resumed hostilities against the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip after Hamas violated an operational pause amid the end of a seven-day truce.
