Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Israel has “resumed fighting with all its strength” against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday night.
In a challenging video statement, he warned that “negotiations will continue only under fire” and that “this is only the beginning.”
Their comments occurred after Israeli airplanes launched mass air attacks against what the military said they were Hamas’ objectives in Gaza.
More than 400 people have been killed in the attacks, said the Ministry of Health led by Hamas, and hundreds more injured.
The strike wave was the heaviest since the fire began on January 19.
The fragile truce had remained mostly so far, but this new wave of attacks suggests that plans for a permanent end of the war can be out of the table.
Air attacks destroyed on Tuesday the relative peace that the Gazans had been experiencing since January, and hospitals are again invaded by victims.
“The attacks were so sudden that the number of available medical personnel was inadequate for the scale of these great strikes, and additional teams were immediately called to help,” said Mohammed Zaquot, general director of the hospitals of the Gaza Strip, to the BBC Arabic.
In his speech, Netanyahu said that Israel had tried to negotiate with Hamas to free Israeli hostages that are still carried out in Gaza. He accused Hamas of rejecting the proposals every time.
Israel and Hamas have not agreed on how to bring the agreement of Alto El Fuego since the first phase expired in early March, after numerous exchanges of Palestinian Israeli hostages and prisoners.
The agreement involves three stages, and negotiations in the second stage should have begun six weeks ago, but this did not happen.
On the other hand, the agreement was launched to uncertainty when the United States and Israel wanted to change the terms of the agreement, to extend stage one that would see more rehenes released.
That would have delayed the beginning of phase two, which was destined to establish a high permanent fire and required that Israeli troops retire from Gaza.
But Hamas rejected this change proposed to the agreement negotiated by us, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, qualifying it unacceptable.
On Tuesday night, Netanyahu said that Israel would continue to fight to achieve all its war goals: “to return to hostages, get rid of Hamas and make sure Hamas is not a threat to Israel.”
Israel consulted the administration of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, before the attacks, said the authorities.
The spokesman for the United States National Security Council, Brian Hughes, said that “Hamas could have released the hostages to extend the fire, but instead he chose the refusal and war.”
Hamas warned that the resumption of Israel’s violence “would impose a death sentence” to the remaining living hostages held in Gaza, and accused Israel of trying to force her to a surrender.
A group that represents the families of the hostages has accused the Israeli government of choosing “to give up the hostages” by launching new strikes, and has been protesting outside the Israeli Parliament.
Israel says that Hamas still has 59 hostages, 24 of which are believed to be alive.
The war was activated when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking Gaza to 251 as captives.
Israel responded with a massive military offensive, which has killed more than 48,500 Palestinians, says the Ministry of Health of Gaza, and has caused great destruction to homes and infrastructure.
