The Return to War in Gaza: Israel’s First Tests and the Promise of a High-Relevance Ground Operation for the Palestinians
Israeli officials say that if that is the case, Israel could potentially control more parts of the territory. That would be the strategy Israel avoided during earlier phases of the war.
If Hamas does not back down it will result in the destruction of Gaza and its civilian population. The Health Ministry in Gaza said that the strikes were responsible for hundreds of deaths, but it doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters. The people of two Palestinian villages on the Israeli side of the border were ordered by Israel’s military to flee their homes.
Michael milstein, an analyst for Israeli affairs and a former senior officer in Israeli military intelligence, said that Israel wanted to push Hamas to show more flexibility by making missile strikes instead of starting a ground operation. “The big question,” he said, “is how Hamas will respond.”
The return to war surprised Israelis as well. The latest ceasefire deal freed 14 out of 25 Israelis from captives in Gaza, but it is believed to endanger the lives of at least 24 other hostages still held in the area.
Israel launched heavy attacks in the early hours of Tuesday, but they did not cause a ground invasion. But they could develop into a full ground operation if Hamas refuses to give up control of Gaza, according to two Israeli military officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak more freely.
The Israeli War in Gaza: The War of Attrition, National Security, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Decay to the White House
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has already reaped domestic rewards from the strikes. Hours after they started, a far-right party rejoined the ruling coalition and gave it a small majority in Parliament.
“Personally I don’t think it’s likely Hamas will be ready to give up their red lines,” Mr. Milstein said. We’ll find ourselves in a limited war of attrition within a few days, with no willingness from Hamas to give up.
There was a group of Israelis gathered outside of the Parliament building on Jerusalem’s outskirts to protest the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which they say undermines the country’s democracy and endangers the remaining hostages in Gaza.
The convergence of popular anger over both domestic and national security issues comes after Israel carried out deadly aerial attacks across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, ending a temporary truce with Hamas that began in January.
The broad sense of national solidarity that had surrounded the war in Gaza, set off on Oct. 7, 2023, by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, now appears to be fraying.
Netanyahu has a deadline: his government must pass a national budget in two weeks, or face the prospect of his government collapsing, triggering new elections.
Protesters shut down the main highway into Jerusalem during the morning hours to make sure that they could march into the city in a scene reminiscent of the social and political upheaval that occurred before the war over government plans to curb the powers of the judiciary.
Protests were initially called for Wednesday after Mr. Netanyahu announced that he was moving to dismiss the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, citing a lack of personal trust between them.
That has raised public concerns about the government’s renewed push to reduce the power of state watchdogs and make appointments that critics say are based on loyalty.
The Israeli-Israel Interaction after the Gaza Strip Reopens: Yair Lapid Tells the Israeli Government to ‘Don’t Stop at Red’
The centrist leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, Yair Lapid, called on people to join the protests in a social media post on Wednesday morning.
“This government does not stop at red,” he wrote. There is no other solution than unity, not quiet, submissive, or fake unity but the unity of an entire nation saying: Enough! He added, “This is our moment, our future, our country. Take to the streets!”
Mr. Netanyahu said that the raid on Gaza was the first step in a campaign to get Hamas to release more hostages.
The new offensive in Gaza also allowed Netanyahu to distract from an unprecedented move: his announcement this week that he wishes to fire his domestic security chief from the Shin Bet agency, a move that sparked street protests, with more underway on Wednesday.
After returning to war, Netanyahu was able to get his far-right ally back into the coalition and improve his governing majority. Ben Gvir had quit because of the January ceasefire with Hamas, and returned Tuesday with the resumption of the war.
It is virtually the same proposal that had been on the table before the return to war, except for the demand to remove Israeli troops from the border area.
Egypt is presenting a new proposal to return to a ceasefire, according to an Egyptian official who was briefed on the offer and not allowed to discuss it publicly but spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity: that Hamas would release around five sick and wounded Israeli hostages and some bodies of dead hostages, in exchange for a ceasefire, the entry of aid and beginning the second phase of the ceasefire deal.
“There’s no other way to explain it: Israel knowingly violated the cease-fire agreement with Hamas – with American approval – because it didn’t want to fully meet the terms it had committed to two months ago,” wrote Amos Harel, a defense affairs columnist for the Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper.
The specific terms of the deal were not officially published. The deal was sealed under the watch of the Biden administration in its waning days, despite involvement from the incoming Trump administration. Israel saw itself as having leeway to try to extract new terms under President Trump.
Hamas continued to recover even after all this time. Israel had allowed in a surge of aid supplies. Hamas government leaders in Gaza began emerging from tunnels and hideouts, deploying officials and displaying their control of the territory.
The Hamas-run Gaza City municipality deleted a Facebook post in which it said it wanted to tax Gaza residents who were living in rubble from the previous war.
Hamas was trying to retrofit unexploded Israeli ordinance from the war for its own weapons stockpiles, according to Tamir Heyman, the head of Israel’s leading national security think tank, the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies.
Israel began a blockade on the Gaza Strip to get Hamas to comply with its terms. Hamas engaged with a number of people, including some who were involved in the war, but it did not get closer to sticking to its demand to remove Israeli troops from the Gaza-Egypt border and begin talks on the end of the war.
At 2:10 a.m., Israel launched about ten minutes of strikes from naval ships and dozens of warplanes after weeks of preparations for an offensive that was kept inside closed circles in the Israeli military. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss what happened behind the scenes.
A senior Hamas official said that there were ceasefire talks going on in the early hours of Tuesday when the Israeli strikes began.
Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen disrupted international shipping routes and fired missiles at Israel throughout the first 15 months of the Gaza war. The Israeli military says it shot down a missile from Yemen that was fired at Israel.
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“Netanyahu’s true objective appears increasingly clear: a gradual slide toward an authoritarian-style regime, whose survival he will try to secure through perpetual war on multiple fronts,” wrote Harel.
“The gates of hell have opened? For me the gates of hell have opened today,” Ruhama Buhbut told Israeli Channel 12. There is still a person held hostage in Gaza, the son of Ruhbut.
Analysts say that the strikes could last for another two weeks, giving Netanyahu a stronger position in power, and making it easier to resume a ceasefire once Israel passes its national budget.
The U.S. struck Houthi targets in Yemen last weekend, and U.S. fighter jets thwarted a Houthi retaliation on a U.S. warship. If there’s no stop to the attacks on the Saudis, Iran will face dire consequences.