To you. The fragile trace between Israel and Hamas has expired. Sirens have been heard over Gaza and Southern Israel, and Israel's Defense say they've resumed combat in Gaza. Let's go right to our Middle East correspondent, Alistair Bunkal, who joins me now from Jerusalem. Ali, good morning to you, but bad news. To what extent was this bad news expected and how bad has it been? Fighting has already resumed?

I think it was inevitable that at some stage, the ceasefire, the temporary ceasefire between the two sides would come to an end. There was, though, having said that, still a hope amongst the mediators that it could be extended further still. So it lasted for seven days in total, during which time, dozens of hostages were released, and in turn, the Israelis released Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. But once we had got to a stage where most of the women and children had been released, the negotiations went into a new phase, and you started looking at men of fighting age and IDF soldiers. And so it was becoming far harder to find common ground between the two sides. And of course, Hamas would have wanted a far greater price to release any IDF soldiers they have captured. We understand that Hamas did not provide, or we're told through Israeli media that Hamas did not provide Israel with a list of hostages to be released later today. And so when the 7:00 AM deadline here came and no agreement had been reached, the fighting resumed. There's been air raid sirens around the border communities in Gaza, and Israeli airplanes are back up in the skies above Gaza once again and carrying out airstrikes across the Strip.

Ali, there's been a lot of meetings and conversations between Western world leaders and Israel's leaders in recent weeks, some of them public. The President of the US tweeted about the topic a couple of days ago. Of course, some of it behind closed doors. Secretary Blinkin's been in the region of late. Do you think Israel has taken on board some of the messaging, some of which we've seen, some of which we don't know about, what fighting is seen as legitimate from this point on?

Yes, probably because I think they'll have to. They do need American backing. They're not going to lose American support completely. But if they don't heed Washington's warnings about having a more targeted, more precise plan for the next phase, we talk about that, say we really mean Southern Gaza, if they don't heed those warnings and, I'm sure, friendly advice, then I think US opposition will grow to an extension of this conflict. And so what the Americans have been saying, at least in public, is that they must be much more careful about operations in the South. You cannot have a widespread bombing campaign like they did in the north. They have to protect humanitarian areas like hospitals. The White House has said it does not want to see another major displacement of civilians, as happened when about a million moved from the north to the south. They don't want to see a repeat of that. And of course, all countries want to see the humanitarian aid continue to flow into gas. Now the humanitarian aid, or at least the expansion of that, was a part of the truth's agreement. So we'll have to see whether or not that is one area that can remain, even though the rest of the truth is now over.

I was about to ask about that. I guess in a slightly backward looking way, how successful was that part of the last eight days or so? Did a lot of aid get in?

We saw around 200 to 220 trucks of aid going in every day. That's medicine, food, water, shelters, desalination equipment, fuel, crucially as well, which the Israelis were most worried about because they were concerned that Hamas would steal that fuel and use it for their own operations. That humanitarian aid, of course, absolutely vital, and has helped relieve what was a bit of a crisis. But actually, 200 trucks is still way below what Gaza would expect to receive on a normal, average working day during peacetime. And so more aid is going to have to keep coming in. The crisis doesn't go away. The need for that aid doesn't go away when you have so many people who are now internally displaced. I'm sure that even if the fighting resumes, there will be mediation going on to make sure that the aid flow continues.

Ali Bunkal, as always, thanks so much. We'll be back out with Ali throughout the morning here for any updates as and when they do arise, Alistair Bunkal there. Meanwhile, Skye's Asia correspondent, Cordelia Lynch, spoke to a recently released Thai national held hostage by Hamas. Her special report is coming up at half past seven.