Hamas Takes Aim at Biden as Truce Gives Way to New Fighting in Gaza

As the White House joined Israel in blaming Hamas for the breakdown of a week-long ceasefire in the ongoing war in Gaza, the Palestinian group said both U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were at fault for the renewed violence.

In its initial statement—amid reports early Friday of a failure to extend the truce and the resumption of hostilities—Netanyahu's office announced that the deal expired because Hamas "has not met its obligation to release all of the women hostages today and has launched rockets at Israeli citizens.

The statement emphasized Israel's commitment "to achieving the goals of the war: Releasing the hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to the residents of Israel."

In its own statement released shortly afterward, however, Hamas argued that Israel "bears accountability" for reigniting the conflict, specifically by allegedly refusing offers to accept the bodies of three members of the kidnapped Bibas family along with one surviving member as part of a broader exchange "involving the handover of prisoners and elderly people."

"The occupation, driven by a predetermined decision to resume criminal aggression, remained unresponsive," Hamas said.

The group also took aim at the White House and State Department, asserting that "the Biden administration and President Biden in person shoulder full responsibility for the continuation of Zionist war crimes in the Gaza Strip with their unwavering support and the green light they gave to the occupation thanks to the Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken's recent visit to the Zionist entity."

Hamas went on to vow its commitment to victory in "facing the U.S.-backed Zionist terror army."

The White House also addressed the matter during a press call Friday, backing up Israeli claims that the fault lay with Hamas for not coming through with its end of the deal.

"Let's be clear about this, it's because of Hamas that this pause ended," National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Friday. "They simply failed to produce a list of hostages that could help enable that pause to be extended."

"So, the onus is on Hamas to be able to produce a list of hostages that can get out," Kirby added, "so that we can try to get this pause back in place."

Hamas then doubled down on its criticism of the U.S. position, however, with political bureau member Izzat al-Risheq saying in a follow-up statement that "the American administration has not only given the green light to this Zionist aggression and the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people, but has always positioned itself as a loyal advocate for (Israel) in all stages of its aggression and terrorism."

"Today, it brazenly repeats the Zionist lies, which hold Hamas responsible for resuming the war and not extending the humanitarian truce," Risheq said, referring to Biden and Blinken as "war criminals."

The truce marked the first of its kind since Hamas' unprecedented October 7 surprise sparked what has become the deadliest-ever flare-up of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The deal was reached last week through mediation from Qatar and Egypt along with U.S. support.

As time ran out, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also accused Hamas early Friday of violating the terms of the pause and of additionally resuming rocket launches from Gaza. The IDF then said it commenced air, land and sea attacks against "terror targets," including launch sites, command centers and tunnel shafts, in Gaza.

Hours later, Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, announced a series of rocket attacks and the targeting of Israeli troops and equipment.

Around this same time, a number of other Palestinian factions began to report on new operations, including Islamic Jihad, the Mujahideen Movement, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which also released a statement saying that it "holds the American administration fully responsible for the renewal of aggression."

Across Israel's northern border, the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah movement also claimed attacks against Israeli military sites. The IDF said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure with fighter jets, helicopters and artillery.

Hours prior to clashes re-erupting, two other foreign groups that have become involved in the conflict, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Yemen's Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, threatened to escalate their campaigns in the event that the IDF resumed operations.

The Islamic State in Iraq, a coalition of largely Iran-aligned militias that has claimed some 75 attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began, declared on Thursday "its readiness and preparedness to escalate military operations inside and outside of Iraq if the American enemy insists on the continuation of the Zionist killing machine, whether in steadfast Gaza or in proud southern Lebanon."

The military spokesperson of Ansar Allah, which has held the capital of Yemen amid a civil war that began in 2014 and has fired missiles and drones against Israel throughout the latest conflict in Gaza, said it "will not hesitate to expand their military operations against the Israeli entity to include targets that they do not expect on land or at sea."

On Friday, with violence returning in Gaza and mass pro-Palestinian rallies sweeping through the Yemeni capital, Ansar Allah Deputy Information Secretary Nasreddin Amer criticized the U.S., whose warships in the region have intercepted some of his group's attacks, in commenting on a Wall Street Journal report that cited U.S. officials saying the Pentagon has provided Israel with 100 BLU-109 bunker-buster bombs.

"The aggression against Gaza is American before it is Zionist," Amer said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. "America is a widespread evil and a blatant crime."