Israel breaks the truce and kills hundreds of Palestinians in a wave of bombings in Gaza.
The extremist Ben Gvir will return to Netanyahu's government after the resumption of indiscriminate attacks in Gaza, which have left more than 400 dead.
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BarcelonaIsrael has broken the fragile truce and has been carrying out massive bombardments of the Gaza Strip since early Tuesday morning, following a two-month ceasefire. So far, 404 people have died and more than 1,000 have been injured. The attacks have hit the entire Strip from south to north: from Khan Yunis, where at least 77 people have been killed, to Gaza City, with 20 dead. According to health authorities in Gaza, run by Hamas, many children are among the victims.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to take "strong action" and said that "Israel will act, from now on, against Hamas with increasing military force" to force the Islamists to accept its terms. Netanyahu wants to extend the first phase of the truce, which expired in mid-February and provides for the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, rather than launching the second phase, which should lay the groundwork for a lasting peace. For three weeks now, Israel blocks the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza and has also cut off the electricity supply, something that has once again pushed the humanitarian situation to the brink.
Ultra-Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich and former minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have welcomed the resumption of attacks. In fact, the latter has announced that he will return to the governing coalition, after leaving it two months ago in a show of rejection of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
In a statement, Hamas accused Netanyahu and his far-right allies of "making decisions to destroy the ceasefire agreement and expose the prisoners [the Israeli hostages] to an unknown fate" and called for people to take to the streets to protest the attack. The other Islamist faction in Gaza, Islamic Jihad, has accused Israel of "sabotaging all efforts to achieve a ceasefire."
From the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reports that the bombing has focused on densely populated neighborhoods, residential buildings, and schools where the homeless have taken shelter. The victims include "babies, children, women, and the elderly," as well as several high-ranking Hamas members.
Negotiations on strike
Negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, which was to lead to the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, a permanent truce, and the release of the 60 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, were at an impasse. However, the Israeli and Palestinian delegations continued to work with the mediators, Egypt and Qatar. So far, Hamas had released 35 hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel did not explicitly declare that it would break the ceasefire, but made it clear that attacks would continue.
After US President Donald Trump threatened Hamas with unleashing hell on Gaza againIsraeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that "the gates of hell" would open in Gaza if the hostages were not released: "We will not stop fighting until everyone returns home and the war objectives are achieved," he warned. The White House spokeswoman said that Israel has consulted with Trump about resuming the bombing.