Israeli forces on Tuesday launched the largest and most deadly attacks on Gaza since a cease-fire with Hamas that began roughly two months ago. The air barrage, which shattered the fragile truce in the enclave, killed hundreds of people, according to health authorities there.
As of late Tuesday, it remained unclear whether the strikes were an attempt to force Hamas to compromise in cease-fire talks or the beginning of a new phase in the conflict. Hamas has not ruled out the possibility of responding militarily.
What happened with the latest strikes?
Just before 2:30 a.m. local time, the Israeli military announced that it was conducting “extensive strikes” on Hamas targets. At least 400 Palestinians, including children, were killed in the strikes, according to the Gaza health ministry. The ministry’s figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Hamas publicly announced the deaths of at least five senior officials among the group’s Gaza leadership. Two were officials in the group’s political bureau, and three others — including Bahjat Abu Sultan, the director of Hamas’s feared internal security agency — held senior security roles.
When Israel launched the strikes, some people were preparing a special meal before the daily Ramadan fast. Others were jolted out of their sleep. After two months of relative calm, the widespread explosions left Gazans with an unmistakable message: The war had returned, at least for now.
Why did Israel resume airstrikes?
The Israeli authorities explained the assault as a response to intransigence by Hamas in talks over extending the cease-fire.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel also said that Hamas had demonstrated a “repeated refusal” to release the rest of the hostages whom it seized during its raid on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Around 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage in that attack, which began the war.
“From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
That message was echoed by Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, who said that the cease-fire talks had reached a dead end and that Israel had “no alternative but to give the order to reopen fire.”
Speaking in Jerusalem to the leadership of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, Mr. Saar said: “This is not a one-day operation. We will pursue military action in the days to come.”
A spokesman for the Israeli military, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said in a statement on Tuesday that Israel also struck in Gaza to prevent planned attacks on Israelis, an explanation for military action that had not been articulated by the prime minister earlier. “Upon receiving indications that Hamas was actively planning and preparing to carry out further terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians” and soldiers, it said, the military “launched a series of pre-emptive strikes against Hamas terror targets in Gaza.”
How did cease-fire talks break down?
The talks stalled because of disagreement over fundamental issues. Hamas, which has attempted to use the hostages as leverage throughout the conflict, has refused to release significant numbers of additional captives until Israel promised to end the war permanently.
Israel and Hamas had been negotiating the next steps in the truce. The next phase is supposed to end the war and free more hostages. But Mr. Netanyahu’s government has refused to agree to end the war unless Hamas gives up control of Gaza or dismantles its military wing.
Israel’s hand in the talks has been strengthened in recent weeks by backing from the Trump administration, which has delivered more weapons to the country. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Israel had consulted the White House before launching the strikes.
To increase pressure on Hamas, Israel halted the delivery of aid and humanitarian supplies into Gaza earlier this month, and last week it cut off electricity that flowed to a water desalination plant in the enclave. Those decisions exacerbated hardships faced by civilians in the shattered enclave, where Palestinian health authorities say more than 48,000 people have been killed, a majority of them women, children or the elderly.
The cease-fire deal, which went into effect on Jan. 19, was designed to unfold in several stages toward a comprehensive end to the conflict. Under the initial phase, which lasted six weeks, Hamas released 30 Israeli and foreign hostages and handed over eight bodies. In exchange, Israel released more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners.
How did Hamas respond to the attack?
Hamas accused Israel of deciding to “overturn the cease-fire agreement, exposing the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate,” referring to the remaining hostages.
Hamas has not responded militarily to the attacks. There was a notable absence of rocket fire by Palestinian militants or attempts to ambush Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
Suhail al-Hindi, a Hamas official who is not in Gaza, reacted by saying the group hopes to restore the cease-fire but reserves the right to respond. “How to respond is left to those on the ground,” he said in a telephone interview. “They know and understand how to respond to the occupation.”
Mr. al-Hindi said the group was disappointed that the United States sided with Israel’s decision to break the two-month truce. Hamas had hoped the Trump administration would restrain Israel from carrying out strikes on Gaza, especially after the direct talks between American officials and Hamas leaders early this month.
Hamas denied it was planning to attack Israeli troops, saying the Israeli claims that it was acting preemptively were “baseless and false pretexts to justify its return to the war.”
How many hostages remain in Gaza?
Of the 250 people seized, more than 130 have been released, including more than 100 during an initial cease-fire in the early months of the war and 30 more during the truce that began in January. The hostages were exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The Israeli military has also retrieved the bodies of at least 40 others. Less than half of the 59 who remain in Gaza are alive, according to the Israeli government.
The main advocacy group for the families of hostages held in Gaza accused the Israeli government of effectively abandoning those still held there with its decision to launch large-scale airstrikes.
Reporting was contributed by Patrick Kingsley, Adam Rasgon, Yan Zhuang, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad and Aaron Boxerman.
