The White House put the onus on Hamas for Israel’s renewed military operations in Gaza overnight due to its repeated refusal to agree to release hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the Israel Defense Forces to “act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the resumption of military strikes in Gaza “follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages.”
The IDF subsequently said Essam al Da’alis, the head of the Hamas government, was killed and that there’s a “high probability” that Mahmoud Marzouk Ahmed Abu-Watfa, Hamas’s head of internal affairs, Bahajat Hassan Mohammed Abu-Sultan, the head of Hamas’s internal security forces, and Ahmed Amar Abdullah Alhata, Hamas’s minister of justice, were killed as well.
The Hamas-run health ministry has claimed more than 400 people were killed, though that tally does not distinguish between civilians and combatants and has not been verified.
Israel’s strikes conclude what had been a roughly eight-week period since the two sides had agreed to a temporary ceasefire to allow for desperately needed humanitarian aid to get into Gaza more easily and for dozens of Israeli hostages held since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack to be freed, as well as to give mediators and regional leaders enough time to figure out postwar governance for Gaza.
“Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” United States National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told the Washington Examiner.
Hughes’s comments imply the U.S.’s support for Israel’s operations, which are an attempt to apply additional pressure on Hamas to agree to a deal.
The U.S., Qatar, and Egypt, which are acting as mediators between Israel and Hamas, have been unable to come up with a long-term plan for the postwar reconstruction and governance of Gaza. Israel and the U.S. maintain that Hamas cannot be involved in the government after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, the most deadly in Israel’s history, but the group is fighting for its survival and has refused.
Hamas wants Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire, which would give the remnants of the group the opportunity to reconstitute and rearm.
“Hamas has been decapitated and severely degraded and does not currently possess the capability to conduct anything like they did on October 7,” Bradley Bowman, a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Washington Examiner.
Roughly 60 hostages are still being held, about a third of whom are believed to be alive.
The resumption of the war, if the negotiations collapse completely and the fighting continues, is not welcomed news for the families of the remaining 59 hostages Hamas is holding.
“Based on the pattern of events since the war began, I don’t see it as a complete end of the ceasefire because the ceasefire has started and stopped,” Alex Plitsas, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told the Washington Examiner. “I think this was meant to put significant pressure on Hamas to see if they can shake loose the elements that were stuck in the deal to get the hostage released and potentially conclude the conflict.”
President Donald Trump has maintained that he wants to see the war come to an end but has also issued ultimatums for Hamas to release the remaining hostages, as well as its backer, Iran.
“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump said earlier this month. “Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted! I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.”
Israeli officials consulted with the Trump administration ahead of the strikes, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Monday night.
Despite the apparent alignment between the Trump administration and Netanyahu’s government, Bowman warned the Israeli leader against “overplaying his hand” by “not realizing that someday Democrats are going to come back to the White House and control a chamber or two in Congress.”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum accused the Israeli government of deciding to “sacrifice the 59 captives” still being held by Hamas, adding that “military pressure will lead to the killing of living hostages and the disappearance of the fallen.”
“The greatest fear of the families, of the hostages and of Israeli citizens has been realized,” the forum said. “We are horrified, furious and scared by the intentional shattering of the process of returning our loved ones from the terrible Hamas captivity.”
GAZA CEASEFIRE ENDS AS ISRAEL LAUNCHES MASSIVE WAVE OF AIRSTRIKES
Through about 16 months of conflict, Israel has decimated the Gaza Strip as well as Hamas.
Trump has referred to Gaza as uninhabitable, and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has said reconstruction could take more than a decade. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed and nearly the entire population has been displaced and are in need of crucial humanitarian aid.
