 "A child sits amid rubble as Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters")
It was meant to bring peace to the region, but it didn’t last too long. We are talking about the truce that Israel and Hamas had decided upon, which has now collapsed after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched dozens of strikes throughout Gaza, killing more than 300 people.
Incidentally, the IDF’s actions come just a day shy of two months since the truce between the two sides began on January 19.
But what does this mean for the remaining hostages held by Hamas? What does this mean for West Asia? Here’s what you need to know.
What do we know of IDF’s strikes on Gaza?
On Tuesday (March 18), Gaza woke up to carnage as the IDF unleashed its most intense strikes on the Gaza Strip since the January ceasefire, with rescuers reporting that so far “at least 330” people have been killed.
According to reports, the strikes were reported in multiple locations, including northern Gaza, Gaza City and the Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah in central and southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF said it was targeting what it called “terror targets” belonging to Hamas in the Strip.
Mahmoud Abu Wafah, the deputy interior minister in Gaza and the highest-ranking Hamas security official in the territory, has also reportedly been killed in a strike.
People inside Gaza recounted the moment that terror rained down on them. Mohammed Jarghoun, 36, was sleeping in a tent near his destroyed house in Khan Younis when he was woken by huge blasts. I thought they were dreams and nightmares, but I saw a fire in my relatives’ house. More than 20 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women,” he told AFP.
Ramez Alammarin, 25, described carrying children to a hospital southeast of Gaza City as Israel unleashed its strikes. “They unleashed the fire of hell again on Gaza,” he said of Israel, adding that “bodies and limbs are on the ground, and the wounded cannot find any doctor to treat them”.
“They bombed a building in the area and there are still martyrs and wounded under the rubble… fear and terror. Death is better than life.”
But why did Israel decide to launch these attacks now? Netanyahu’s office said the decision to resume strikes shortly after midnight on Tuesday “followed Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US special envoy to the Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”
In a statement, the Jewish nation said, “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.” An Israeli official further told AFP the military operation would “continue as long as necessary” and was expected to “expand beyond air strikes”.
Reacting to the strikes, a US official said that Israel had consulted the Donald Trump administration before the strikes. “Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” White House spokesperson Brian Hughes said.
The strikes prompted varied reactions from within Israel. Israeli hardliner, Itamar Ben Gvir, who quit his post as national security minister over the ceasefire welcomed the strikes. “The existence of Hamas cannot be tolerated, and it is our duty to bring about its collapse,” he said on Telegram. However, Democrats party chief Yair Golan slammed Netanyahu for the resumption of hostilities.
What does it mean for hostages held by Hamas?
Shortly after the IDF began its strikes in Gaza, Hamas said that Israel had “unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire agreement”. The Palestinian-based group added that it also left the 59 remaining hostages to an “unknown fate”.
A top Hamas official told AFP that Israel had sacrificed its remaining hostages by re-launching military operations. “Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to resume war is a decision to sacrifice the occupation’s prisoners and impose a death sentence on them,” said Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq, adding that the Israeli leader was using the fighting as a political “lifeboat” to distract from internal crises.
Hamas also called on people in Arab and Islamic nations, along with the “free people of the world”, to take to the streets to protest the assault. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group accused Israel of “deliberately sabotaging all efforts to reach a ceasefire”.
However, Hamas has stopped one step short of declaring a resumption of war, instead calling on mediators and the United Nations to intervene.
But how did it come to this?
The strikes on Tuesday come as ceasefire negotiations broke down. Hamas and Israel have been unable to agree on how to move into the second phase of the ceasefire agreement .
Hamas wanted to enter Phase Two, which would have seen Israeli troops fully withdraw from Gaza and the release of all living hostages held by Hamas. Israel instead pushed for an extension of phase one, without committing to end the war or withdraw troops.
Last week, Hamas said it would release American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander and four bodies of the hostages if Israel agreed to begin talks immediately on implementing the second phase of the agreement. Israel, however, accused the group of waging “psychological warfare” on the families of hostages.
What happens next?
Israel’s strikes, which are its deadliest since January, come at a time when West Asia is already seeing an escalation of violence. Many note that it could also plunge the region into further uncertainty.
For instance, the Donald Trump administration has ordered “decisive” military action against Houthi rebels in Yemen. There’s also the deadly cross-border attacks between Lebanon and Syria’s new Islamist-led government.
Moreover, Israeli strikes in Gaza would also hit Gazans hard. As CNN noted, any breakdown of the ceasefire would spell even more hardship in the struggle to survive for Gazans, with the enclave already in desperate need of critical supplies.
Earlier, Israel had blocked the supply of food and other humanitarian aid into Gaza. However, as part of the truce, trucks carrying food and hygiene supplies had made their way into the Strip. But, a return to the war would “lead to an immense tragedy”, as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last month.
With inputs from agencies