Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip – Israel has launched new strikes against Hamas, killing more than 200 people, according to Palestinian officials, and promised a “growing military force” after interviews on new hostage releases were stopped, the Prime Minister’s office of Israel said on Monday. The resumption of Israel’s assault occurred after almost two months of calm relating to Gaza under a cease-fire that the United States helped to make the broker, but that Israel and Hamas could not agree on how to continue.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that his soldiers “currently attack the targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip, with the aim of achieving the war objectives determined by the political level, including the release of all our hostages – Living and Dead”.
“Now, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force,” said the Prime Minister’s office.
The press release indicates that Israel took up military strikes due to Hamas’ repeated refusals to release its hostages and rejection from all the offers it received from the American president Steve Witkoff and the mediators.
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“If Hamas does not release all the kidnapped, the doors of hell will open in the murderers and rapists of Gaza and Hamas will meet the FDIs of the forces which they have never known before,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz. “We will not stop fighting until all the kidnappings return home and all the objectives of the war are achieved.”
During the weekend, Witkoff warned that Hamas should immediately publish hostages alive “or pay a serious price”.
The press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, said on Monday evening that the Trump administration was consulted by the Israelis during their attacks in Gaza.
“Hamas could have released hostages to prolong the ceasefire, but rather chose refusal and war,” the spokesman for the National Security Council, Brian Hughes said on Monday.
Taher Nunu, a Hamas official, criticized Israeli attacks. “The international community faces a moral test: either it allows the return of crimes committed by the occupation army, or it applies a commitment to end the assault and the war against the innocent in Gaza,” he said.
Hamas also warned that the new air strikes in Israel had violated the ceasefire and put the fate of hostages in danger, saying that the Israeli government was responsible for an “unlikely escalation” against the Palestinians.
The strikes intervene in the middle of the sacred Muslim month of Ramadan and after almost two months of ceasefire to suspend the 17-month war where dozens of hostages were released for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The first phase of the ceasefire ended on March 1, but the break in major fights took place until Monday.
But since the first phase of the ceasefire ended two weeks ago, the sides have not been able to agree on a path to follow with a second phase aimed at freeing the almost 60 remaining hostages and ending the war. Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to resume war, and President Trump published several warnings And ultimatum For Hamas-some contradicting the terms contained in the ceasefire-because negotiations on a second phase of the ceasefire had trouble materializing.
The first phase of the ceasefire saw an exchange of certain hostages held by Hamas in exchange for the release of the Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have tried to mediate the next stages of the ceasefire.
Earlier in the month, Israel Cut the aid to GazaStopping the entry of all goods and supplies on Palestinian territory. Israel said the aid blockis aimed at putting Hamas to accept a Proposal written by the Trump administration to extend the first phase ceasefire. Under the proposal, Israel had asked Hamas to immediately hand over half of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, which would have been a significant change in the terms initially accepted under the agreement negotiated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
Friday, Hamas said he had accepted A proposal from mediators to release a living American-Israeli hostage and the bodies of four national died in captivity. Netanyahu’s office questioned last week, accusing the United States and the terrorist group designated by the United States of having tried to manipulate current talks in Qatar on the next stage of the ceasefire in Israel-Hamas.
In a separate declaration on Friday, the head of Hamas, Husam Badran, reaffirmed what he said that Hamas’ commitment to fully implement the cease-fire agreement in all its phases, warning that any Israeli difference compared to the terms would make negotiations in the Case in Carré.
The agreement had called for negotiations to start the second most difficult phase of the ceasefire, in which the remaining hostages are released and the Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. Hamas would have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.
The war broke out with Hamas on October 7, 2023, a cross -border terrorist attack, which killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel responded with a military offensive that killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and has moved around 90% of the Gaza population. The Ministry of Health of the territory does not make the difference between civilians and activists, but says that more than half of the dead have been women and children.
While the ceasefire has largely interrupted the fighting, Israel has left the troops in Gaza in the past two months and continued to strike targets, saying that the Palestinians tried to carry out attacks or to approach troops in areas without Go. A number of strikes earlier Monday killed a total of 10 people, according to Palestinian officials.