Israel’s military said Friday it had resumed fighting in Gaza, with airstrikes and artillery fire reported in Gaza City, as a truce expired with no agreement to extend it.

“Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory,” the Israeli military said.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip.”

Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory.

The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/gVRpctD79R

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 1, 2023

The announcement came shortly after the military said it had intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza, the first from the territory since a missile launched minutes into the first day of the truce.

Inside Gaza, an AFP journalist said Israeli warplanes carried out a series of strikes, and reported artillery fire in Gaza City.

Drones could also be heard in the air over the south of the territory for the first time since the truce, an AFP reporter in the area said.

The resumption of fighting dashed hopes for an extension of a seven-day truce that had seen dozens of hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoner releases by Israel.

The truce also allowed more aid into the ravaged Gaza Strip.

On Thursday, US top diplomat Antony Blinken, meeting Israeli and Palestinian officials, called for the pause in hostilities to be extended, and warned any resumption of combat must protect Palestinian civilians.

The truce had paused fighting that began on October 7 when Hamas broke through Gaza’s militarised border into Israel.

The surprise attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and Hamas kidnapped about 240, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas in response and unleashed an air and ground military campaign in Gaza that the Hamas government says has killed more than 15,000 people, also mostly civilians.

During the truce brokered by Qatar, 80 Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

More than 20 foreigners, most of them Thais living in Israel, were freed outside the scope of the agreement.

Overnight, six more Israelis, some holding dual nationality, were released, hours after two women were freed.

That brought the total freed Thursday to eight, less than the 10 hostages a day the truce deal required Hamas to release. A source close to the group said it was counting two Russian-Israeli women released on Wednesday as part of the seventh batch.

The release brought relief for Keren Shem, whose daughter Mia was among those freed. The family released footage showing Keren weeping with joy as she was informed by phone of her daughter’s imminent freedom.

“Mia is coming back,” she cried out.

Not long after the hostages arrived in Israel, the country’s prison service said another 30 Palestinian prisoners — 23 minors and seven women — had been freed. 

After meeting leaders in Israel and the occupied West Bank, Blinken said Washington wants “to see this process continue to move forward.”

“We want an eighth day and beyond.”

A source close to Hamas said the group backed another extension and mediators were working to prolong the pause, but the negotiations appeared to have failed.

Israel made it clear it viewed the truce as a temporary pause to secure the release of hostages.

“We swore… to eliminate Hamas, and nothing will stop us,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video released by his office, after meeting with Blinken.

His government has come under increasing pressure, however, to account for how it will protect civilians in the territory, which is under blockade, with no way for people to escape.

Blinken warned that any resumed military operation by Israel “must put in place humanitarian civilian protection plans that minimise further casualties of innocent Palestinians”.

Specifically, Israel must “clearly and precisely” designate areas “in southern and central Gaza, where they can be safe and out of the line of fire”, he said.

International bodies have called for more time to get medical supplies, food and fuel into Gaza, where an estimated 1.7 million people have been forced from their homes.

The truce had allowed people to return to the ruins of their homes to pick through the rubble for remaining belongings and provided a sense of safety after weeks of daily bombardment.

“We are afraid that the truce will end, so the problems and the bombings will start again,” Gaza City resident Mohamad Naasan told AFP on Thursday.

“I hope that the truce resumes… so peace prevails, and we all go back home.”

The pause in fighting had not tempered violence elsewhere.

On Thursday morning, two gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in Jerusalem, killing three people in an attack claimed by Hamas.

The gunmen, who police said were from annexed east Jerusalem, were shot dead at the scene.

Separately, two Israeli soldiers were lightly injured in a ramming attack on a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the army said, adding the assailant had also been “shot and neutralised”.

The violence in Gaza has also raised tensions in the West Bank, where nearly 240 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.

The New York Times reported overnight that Israeli authorities were aware Hamas was planning a major assault, and had obtained a blueprint for the attack, which the group appears to have largely followed on October 7.

Intelligence and military officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, even after a signals analyst warned the group had carried out a training exercise in line with the plan, according to the report.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ranvijay Singh (Ranbir Kapoor) is the hotheaded son of super rich industrialist Balbir Singh (Anil Kapoor). He’s super protective of his family and loves his father to death. That trait is shown early on, when as a schoolboy, he takes on the bullies who were troubling his college-bound sister. Growing up, he understands his father is never going to accept him the way he is. He finds time to marry the love of his life, Geetanjali (Rashmika Mandanna), scoots off to the US and has two children. Then, daddy dearest becomes the target of an assassination attempt. The dutiful son comes roaring back after eight years to set things right and kills around 300 people doing so. In between, he goes to Punjab to mend ties with an estranged branch of the family, so they can lend their sons to help him win the war. The boys have lots of tons with their toys – one of them is a giant gun mounted on a motor.

All this happens before the interval. Now, the film practically ends at this point and if the director had done that, we would have left with a one-and-a-half hour long, slick actioner. But he doesn’t do the needful and needlessly stretches it to another two hours. We are made to repetitively witness more mayhem.

The film is a homage to the hero worship every boy feels for his dad as a kid. Most of us slowly let go of that feeling as we grow up, and start seeing our fathers as beings of mere flesh and bone. This leads to a better relationship, a healthier relationship, with our parents as we age. But Ranvijay is shown to be having the emotional depth of a five year old when it comes to dealing with his father. He puts his father on the same pedestal as God, or even higher. He doesn’t share the same equation with his mother, mind you. She’s a mere mortal, perhaps, as he says in the film, it’s a man’s world.

Sandeep Reddy Vanga was criticised for having men raise their hand against women in both Arjun Reddy and Kabir Singh. Here we have Rashmika giving in to anger and slapping Ranbir. That’s Vanga’s way of making things right. Take it or leave it. The film worships at the temple of toxic masculinity, what with phallic humour galore and women being treated as mere sex objects. There’s a scene where Ranbir is celebrating his successful heart surgery by roaming around buff naked in the lawns, to put things in perspective.

All that aside, we never could imagine what prompted the director to make this vastly self-indulgent film. Maybe it was an experiment to turn Ranbir Kapoor into an action star. Perhaps to see how good he looks with Rashmika or with Triptii Dimri. Perhaps it was to resurrect Bobby Deol’s film career. Well, Ranbir’s such a good actor that he makes even leave-your-mind-at-home action look easy on the eye. And he does look good with both Rashmika and Triptii. And there’s no doubt that Bobby still has a great screen persona. But do these positives justify three hours and 21 minutes of runtime? Some scenes feel like they were written on the fly. The editing, the continuity is the least troubled department. The film is shot well and has some good songs to its credit but the story, screenplay and direction departments clearly needed a firmer guidance.

There have been films like Shakti (1982), revolving around tumultuous father-son relationships. Perhaps Sandeep Reddy Vanga should have gone back to the classic or sat with its director Ramesh Sippy to get a grip on how it’s done. Because Anil Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor are two of our finest actors. And both have acted out of their skulls in this film. Their scenes together are the soul of the film. But even the finest talent can’t do much in the face of bad writing. It’s painful to watch their talent being used in such a way. The trailer of the film was so finely cut that it raised expectations sky high. The end product, sadly, just doesn’t match up to the hype.

Watch Animal to see Anil Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor rising above the ridiculous to give a sublime performance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called on all nations to work together to cut global emissions drastically, and announced a “green credit” initiative that focuses on creating carbon skins with people’s participation.

At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, PM Modi today said India’s emissions are very low compared to other nations whose population is much less.

“India’s population is 17 per cent of the global population, but in global carbon emissions India is only at 4 per cent. We are moving fast in achieving the NDC targets. In fact, we reached our non-fossil fuel targets nine years before the deadline,” PM Modi said, referring to the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), a climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts.

“We do not have much time to correct the mistakes of the last century,” PM Modi said, and asked every nation to work sincerely to meet their NDC targets.

The Conference of Parties (COP) is a decision-making body that reviews the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Environment Ministry has introduced two initiatives that indicate India’s proactive approach to tackling climate change, and sustainability take forward ‘LiFE’ – ‘Lifestyle for Environment’ movement announced by PM Modi in 2021.

The “green credit” initiative seeks to encourage environmentally friendly practices rooted in tradition and conservation reflecting the ideas of the ‘LiFE’ concept.