War rages on in Gaza as truce delayed till today

War raged on in Gaza yesterday, as a proposed truce and release of hostages was delayed for at least another day.

Columns of black smoke could be seen rising above northern Gaza's war zone from across the fence in Israel as daylight broke over the strip. Israel said the release of hostages, meant to be accompanied by the war's first ceasefire, would be delayed until today.

The Israeli military said it had launched 300 air strikes overnight, and sounded sirens warning of cross-border rocket launches by Palestinian groups. Palestinian media reported Israeli strikes in the northern areas as well as in the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israel has told residents of the north to seek shelter.

A doctor at Gaza's largest hospital Al-Shifa told AFP that the facility's director and several other medical personnel were arrested by Israeli forces yesterday.

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

A Palestinian official told AFP yesterday that a delay in implementation of the truce was due to "last minute" details over which hostages would be released and how. Qatar announced key details of the planned pause in fighting and release of hostages.

"The pause will begin at 7:00 am on Friday ... and the first batch of civilian hostages will be handed over at approximately 4:00 pm on the same day," Majed Al-Ansari, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday, adding that the number of people freed will be thirteen.

Israel has said the truce could last beyond the initial four days as long as Hamas free at least 10 hostages per day. Both sides have said they will go back to fighting once the truce is over, reports Reuters.

"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 yesterday.

Since the Israeli offensive began on October 7, more than 14,000 Gazans have been killed by Israeli bombardment, around 40 percent of them children, according to health authorities in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Thousands of children have been killed in Gaza, "the most dangerous place in the world to be a child", said Catherine Russell, executive director of the UN children's fund, Unicef.