Paul Ellertson, staff writer

The State of Israel and Hamas ended a seven day truce and ceasefire on Dec. 1 and more Israeli airstrikes have now been targeting Southern Gaza. This truce involved Hamas asking for the release of 150 women and children from Israeli prisons, while Israel asked for at least 50 Israeli hostages be released. According to Al Jazeera, the ceasefire deal was originally only supposed to last four days. However, after a Qatar moderated deal, Israel then told Hamas that for every 10 extra Israeli hostages released, the truce would be extended by an extra day. According to Al Jazeera, this was the first ceasefire since Israel started bombing Gaza on Oct. 7.

When it came down to members of the Israeli cabinet voting for or against the deal, only Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two others in his far right party voted against it. According to Al Jazeera, the remaining 38 cabinet members voted in favor of the deal, after the Israeli government had stated that, “It is committed to returning all the hostages home.” In a quote from Al Jazeera, the White House said, “It looks forward to speaking and working with the leaders of Qatar, Egypt and Israel to ensure the deal carries through in its entirety.” 

“This deal was possible because of significant U.S. pressure,” said National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute Fellow James Dorsey in Al Jazeera. “We will continue to be at war until we achieve our goals by destroying Hamas, returning all our hostages and ensuring that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel,” Dorsey added. However, according to Al Jazeera, analysts had criticized the decision and encouraged that the international community should have utilized the pause to figure out a more permanent end to the war.

According to Palestinian Officials, Gaza is home to about 2.3 million people, and it is estimated that at least 14,100 people have been killed while 1.7 million have been displaced, due to the Israeli airstrikes while the death toll for Israel casualties remain below 2,000. Qatari officials have stated that “their mediation efforts were a success” according to Al Jazeera. However, according to USA Today, truce negotiations were unable to extend past seven days and Israeli air strikes promptly continued on Friday, Dec. 1, and have only become more persistent and deadly for the people of Gaza. According to Al Jazeera, analysts had criticized the decision and encouraged that the international community should have utilized the pause to figure out a more permanent end to the war.

Pope Francis has openly criticized Israel for “responding to terror with terror” according to CNN. However, it’s unclear if the Pope actually described the Israeli response as “terror” as sources from the Vatican were unable to confirm if those were the words he used in a phone call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The Pope also spoke to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and President Biden, making these calls as an effort to “contain the gravity and scope of the conflict situation in The Holy Land” according to CNN. 

It is also estimated that at least 61 media workers in Gaza have been killed since Oct. 7. Most of these deaths were Palestinian reporters while only a few Israeli and Lebanese reporters have been killed. UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Efforts Martin Griffiths has warned that “People in Gaza are scared and have nowhere to go,” according to CNN. Griffiths added “The 7 day pause was a glimpse of what could happen when the guns go silent.”