What happened
Israel Tuesday morning launched what it called “extensive strikes” on Hamas “terror targets” across Gaza, its first major attack on the Palestinian enclave since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government signed a ceasefire agreement with Hamas two months ago. Gaza’s health ministry said at least 326 Palestinians were killed in the strikes.
Who said what
The attack was prompted by “Hamas’ repeated refusal to release our hostages” and its “rejection of all the proposals” from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and other mediators, Netanyahu’s office said. “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.” Hamas said Israel’s decision to “overturn the ceasefire agreement” exposed the remaining hostages “to an unknown fate.” Hamas still holds 59 Israeli hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Israel had consulted the U.S. before launching the strikes. President Donald Trump “has made it clear” that “Hamas, the Houthis, Iran” and anyone else seeking to “terrorize” Israel or the U.S. “will see a price to pay: All hell will break loose,” she said. Israel’s Hostage Families Forum said in a statement that Netanyahu had “chosen to abandon the hostages” and its members were “shocked, angry and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas.”
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What next?
Negotiations on ending the Gaza war have deadlocked, but it was “unclear whether the attack effectively ended the ceasefire,” The New York Times said. Hamas “has not yet declared that it is resuming the war,” the BBC said, “instead calling on mediators and the United Nations to intervene.”
