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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Pause in fighting may resume if Hamas releases hostages — newspaper

One of the newspaper’s sources said that Hamas had "released all or almost all of the hostages it appears to be willing to release for now"

© AP Photo/ Leo Correa

WASHINGTON, December 1. /TASS/. A pause in combat between Israel and the radical Palestinian movement Hamas may resume despite renewed Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip if the militants agree to release more hostages, the Washington Post reported citing sources.

According to the newspaper, Qatar is mediating talks on the pause between Israel and Hamas but there is "little doubt that a week of calm was more or less over."

One of the newspaper’s sources said that Hamas had "released all or almost all of the hostages it appears to be willing to release for now." "We’re at the end of the line," he added.

Earlier, CNN reported that talks on releasing the hostages in the Gaza Strip were underway.

On Friday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire and announced renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip. Not long before that, the army press service twice reported air raid sirens going off in locations near the embattled enclave and air defense systems intercepting at least one projectile fired from Gaza at Israeli territory. Later, the IDF reported that its jets had begun delivering air strikes on Hamas targets in the Palestinian enclave.

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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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