Nine hours after the bombardment began, Hamas still had not fired back. It was not clear whether that was because its military capabilities were too degraded during the earlier phases of the war, or because it sought to avoid a stronger response from Israel.
But it showed no public signs of backing down in the negotiations. In a statement, Hamas harshly criticized the strikes, saying that Israel had condemned the remaining hostages in Gaza to an “unknown fate” and calling for it to be held “fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement.”
In Israel, the renewal of the war drew both celebration and horror.
To the relatives of the roughly 60 hostages still held in Gaza, the renewed fighting raised the possibility that the remaining captives might never return. “The Israeli government has chosen to abandon the hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group that campaigns for hostages, said in a social media post.
But the decision was praised by right-wing lawmakers who have long pushed for a return to war in order to ensure Hamas’s destruction. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right lawmaker who quit the government in January in protest of the cease-fire deal, said in a social media post that it is “the right, moral, ethical and most justified step.” He added: “We must not accept the existence of the Hamas organization and it must be destroyed.”
Critics of the government said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the move for political reasons, both to secure Mr. Ben-Gvir’s support during tight upcoming votes in Parliament over a new national budget, and to distract from the government’s divisive plan to fire Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet.
“Netanyahu is using the lives of our citizens and soldiers because he trembles in fear of us — from the public protest against the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet,” wrote Yair Golan, an opposition leader, in a social media post. The cabinet was expected to vote on Tuesday about Mr. Bar’s future, a move that had prompted calls for mass protests.
Asked to respond the opposition’s claims, Mr. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.
But in its official statement announcing the resumption of heavy military action, the prime minister’s office framed the operation as an effort to save the hostages. It blamed the breakdown of talks on Hamas and said the operation was an attempt to secure “the release of all of our hostages,” avoiding explicit reference to Hamas’s defeat.
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting from Haifa, Israel, and Myra Noveck from Jerusalem.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-hamas-war.html
