These were the largest Israeli strikes on Gaza since the start of the ceasefire with Hamas on January 19.
The largest attack in the war-torn region since the ceasefire started on January 19 occurred in Gaza on Tuesday, when the Israeli military carried out “extensive strikes” on Hamas sites amid stalled truce negotiations, killing at least 330 Palestinians.
Many places heard the blasts, including Gaza City, northern Gaza, and the center and southern Gaza Strip’s Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah.
In the attack on Gaza City, Mahmud Abu Watfa, the leader of Hamas’s internal security and police forces in the Gaza Strip, was also reported dead.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed to be “conducting extensive strikes on terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip” in line with the “political echelon” in a post on X this morning.
Israel also mandated the closure of all schools near the Gaza border.
Afterwards, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the strikes were prompted by “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”
The IDF is currently targeting Hamas terrorist targets across the Gaza Strip in order to accomplish the war’s goals as decided by the political level, which include freeing all of our hostages, both living and dead, the group wrote on X.
Now, it warned, Israel would use “increased military strength” to combat Hamas.
But according to Hamas, Mr. Netanyahu has chosen to “sacrifice” captives by starting a new conflict.
According to a Hamas official, Netanyahu’s intention to return to war is an attempt to sacrifice the prisoners of the occupation and execute them. The official also claimed that Netanyahu was using the conflict as a political “lifeboat” to divert attention from domestic issues.
Hamas said that the ceasefire violation “exposes the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate” and took Mr. Netanyahu “fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement” in a separate statement.
According to a White House official, Israel conferred with the administration of President Donald Trump prior to executing the strikes.
Talks on an Israel-Hamas ceasefire stall
The ceasefire negotiations came to a standstill because Israel wanted to prolong the first part of the three-stage deal, while Hamas stated that it would only commence hostage-freedom under the second phase, which was scheduled to start on March 2.
With the condition that any transition to the second phase involve “the total demilitarization” of Gaza and the expulsion of Hamas, which has ruled the region since 2007, Israel sought to extend the first phase until mid-April.
The American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander and four of the hostages’ bodies would be released by Hamas last week provided Israel agreed to start negotiations on putting the second phase of the deal into action right away. However, the group was accused by Israel of engaging in “psychological warfare” against the hostage families.
In exchange for almost 1,800 Palestinian captives, Hamas released five Thais and 33 Israeli hostages, including five bodies, during the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza. There are still roughly 59 captives held by the gang.
The only prior ceasefire in the conflict occurred in November 2023, when Hamas exchanged Palestinian detainees for hostages. The ceasefire lasted for one week.
About 1,200 individuals, primarily civilians, were killed in a cross-border attack into southern Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza War. Additionally, they took 251 hostages.
Since then, more over 48,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed and over 1.12 lakh injured by Israel’s retaliation strikes.
