Israeli airstrikes: hostages’ families condemn Netanyahu’s decision

Israel on Monday night, launched new strikes in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 230 people.

This is according to the Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.

According to the office of Israel’s prime minister, Israel has promised “increasing military force.”

This comes after talks on further hostage releases stalled on Monday.

The resumption of Israel’s war against Hamas came after almost two months of relative calm in Gaza under a ceasefire the U.S. helped to broker.

However Israel and Hamas could not agree on how to continue.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement its military is “currently attacking targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip.

This they say is with the aim of achieving the war goals as determined by the political echelon, including the release of all their hostages — living and dead.”

“From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force,” the prime minister’s office said.

The statement said Israel was resuming military strikes because of Hamas’ repeated refusals to release its hostages.

It is alo resuming the attacks because of Hamas’s rejection of all offers it received from the U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and mediators.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

“If Hamas does not release all the kidnapped, the gates of hell will open in Gaza,

“and Hamas’ murderers and rapists will meet the IDF with forces they have never known before,

“We will not stop fighting until all the kidnapped return home and all the war’s goals are achieved.” he added.

The group representing the Israeli hostages’ families condemned Netanyahu’s decision to resume the fighting,

They accused him of a “complete deception,” arguing that it would endanger the remaining captives.

They quickly organized a new protest against the move.

In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said,

“The families’ greatest fear has come true.

“The Israeli government has chosen to give up on the abductees.

“We are shocked, angry and anxious about the deliberate disruption of the process to return our loved ones from Hamas captivity,”

The group added,

“Returning to fighting before the last abductee is returned will come at the cost of the 59 abductees who are still in Gaza and could be saved and returned,”

They further accused Netanyahu’s government of having “refused to declare an end to the war.

The forum dismissed Netanyahu’s claim that the resumption of fighting was intended to secure the remaining hostages’ release as “a complete deception.”

The forum said “families are now making their way to Jerusalem and calling on the people of Israel to stand with them” in a protest on Tuesday.

“There is nothing more urgent than this!

With each passing day, the danger to the hostages grows.

Military pressure could further endanger their lives and complicate efforts to bring them home safely.”

Hamas also condemned the attacks, accusing Israel of breaching the ceasefire and putting the fate of the remaining hostages in jeopardy.

Over the weekend, Witkoff warned that Hamas must release living hostages immediately “or pay a severe price.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday evening that the Trump administration was consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza.

While speaking to reporters on Monday, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said,

“Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” .

“Netanyahu and his extremist government have decided to overturn the ceasefire agreement, exposing the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate,” said Hamas.

Hamas made a demand for the U.S. and its negotiating partners Egypt and Qatar to “hold Netanyahu and the Zionist occupation fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement.”

The strikes come amid the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and after nearly two months of a ceasefire.

This was to pause the 17-month-long war where dozens of hostages were released for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The first phase of the ceasefire ended March 1 but the pause in major fighting held until Monday.

But since the first phase of the ceasefire ended, the sides have not been able to agree on a way forward with a second phase.

It is a phase aimed at releasing the nearly 60 remaining hostages and ending the war altogether.

Netanyahu had repeatedly threatened to resume the war, and President Trump had also issued several warnings and ultimatums to Hamas.

Some of the warnings contradicted the agreed-upon terms of the ceasefire — as negotiations on a second phase of the ceasefire struggled to materialize.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States had been trying to mediate the next steps in the ceasefire.

Earlier in the month, Israel cut off aid into Gaza, stopping the entry of all goods and supplies into the Palestinian territory.

Israel said the aid blockade was aimed at pressuring Hamas to accept a proposal drafted by the Trump administration.

The proposal was to extend the first phase of the ceasefire.

Under the proposal, Israel had demanded Hamas immediately hand over half of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

This would have been a significant change in the terms initially agreed to under the deal brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt.

On Friday, Hamas said it had accepted a proposal from mediators to release one living American-Israeli hostage and the bodies of four dual-nationals who had died in captivity.

Netanyahu’s office cast doubt on the offer last week, accusing the U.S. and Israeli-designated terrorist group of trying to manipulate talks.

The talks were underway in Qatar on the next stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

In a separate Friday statement, Hamas official, Husam Badran, reaffirmed that what he said was Hamas’ commitment to fully implementing the ceasefire agreement in all its phases.

He warned that any Israeli deviation from the terms would return negotiations to square one.

The agreement had called for negotiations to begin on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase.

A phase in which the remaining hostages would be released and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.

Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.

The war erupted with Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, cross-border terrorist attack, which killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.

Israel responded with a military offensive that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza’s population.

The territory’s Health Ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and militants, but says over half of the dead have been women and children.

While the ceasefire largely halted the fighting, Israel has left troops in Gaza throughout the past two months and continued to strike targets.

Israel claimed that Palestinians were trying to carry out attacks or approaching troops in no-go zones.

A number of strikes earlier Monday killed a total of 10 people, according to Palestinian officials.

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