Israel launched the largest wave of air strikes to hit Gaza since the ceasefire began on 19 January with Palestinian officials saying that 220 people have been killed overnight.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said the attacks were launched because Hamas was refusing to release more hostages, after freeing 33 in the initial sex-week phase of the ceasefire plan reached in January.
Israel accuses Hamas of refusing to release hostages in Gaza
“Last night, we resumed fighting in Gaza due to Hamas’ refusal to release the hostages and its threats to harm [Israeli] soldiers and Israeli communities. If Hamas does not release all the hostages, the gates of hell will open in Gaza, and Hamas’ murderers and rapists will face the IDF with unprecedented force. We will not stop fighting until all the hostages return home and all war objectives are achieved,” Katz said in a statement.
Hamas has responded furiously, accusing Israel of treachery for overturning the ceasefire agreement. It also says Israel is exposing the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza to “an unknown fate”.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that the Trump administration had been consulted by the Israelis about the strikes.
“As President Trump has made it clear – Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,” Leavitt said.
Attacks appear to end ceasefire in Gaza
The series of attacks appeared to end the current ceasefire that took effect on January 19, 2025, pushed through by the outgoing U.S. administration of President Joe Biden and by the incoming administration of President Trump.
Under that ceasefire deal, the two sides agreed to an initial phase of six weeks in which Hamas released 33 of hostages, both living and dead, held since its attack on Israel in October 2023.
In return, Israel released close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees who had been held in Israeli prisons. That phase ended at the beginning of March, but the second phase – In which talks designed to end the war were due to begin– did not start.
Instead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced earlier this month that Trump’s Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff had proposed a new plan in which Hamas would release around half of the remaining hostage in exchange for an extension of the ceasefire, during which talks would start for a lasting solution to the crisis.
Hamas rebuffed the new proposal, and Israel blocked all aid from entering the Gaza Strip in an effort to force Hamas to agree.