Israel vows to seize "large areas" of Gaza
Israeli tanks are advancing into central Rafah today, following a night of deadly airstrikes across Gaza, after Israel´s defence minister announced a major expansion of its ground assault in the strip.
Outlining the plan, Israel Katz said that the objective was to seize “large areas” of the Palestinian enclave and incorporate them into what he described as “security” zones.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who made their way back home to southern Gaza after the January ceasefire deal are now being ordered to leave in a mass evacuation.
In parallel to Israel´s military escalation, the US is increasing its forces in the region, with reports of dozens of American cargo flights in the Middle East over the past 48 hours.
An Israeli strike on a UN clinic sheltering displaced families in the northern town of Jabalia killed at least 19 Palestinians, including nine children, today, according to the nearby Indonesian hospital, and no food, water fuel or medicine has entered the strip since Israel imposed its total blockade 31 days ago.
In his statement today, Katz explicitly called on “the residents of Gaza to act now to eliminate Hamas and return the kidnapped”, without elaborating on how they were to do so.
Last week, hundreds of Palestinians held protests in northern Gaza in which, alongside venting their anger at Israel and the US, they also chanted against Hamas in a rare display of public dissent.
Under the original Israel-Hamas three-phase ceasefire agreement signed on 19 January, a three-phase proposal was drawn up. The first phase, completed on 1 March, led to the release of 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Under the second phase, Hamas was set to release all remaining living hostages in exchange for Israel releasing more Palestinian prisoners, making the ceasefire permanent and withdrawing all its forces from Gaza. But Netanyahu has refused to move forward with phase two of the original ceasefire, instead proposing a new US-backed offer: an extension of phase one under which more hostages would be freed but without any further commitment to ending the war. Hamas has refused to agree to this new proposal.
The likelihood of Netanyahu - whose own political career likely depends on achieving his goal of “total victory” over Hamas - going ahead with phase two of the ceasefire agreement was always highly uncertain.
As Tim Marshall wrote back in January, “one of Netanyahu´s hardline cabinet members resigned in protest over the original ceasefire deal and another was only persuaded to remain with assurances that the deal did not mean a permanent end to the war”. If Netanyahu had pressed ahead with phase two, and withdrawn all Israeli forces from Gaza, “additional cabinet resignations could see the government collapse followed by elections which Netanyahu could lose”.
The Israeli PM is, however, under renewed pressure from hostage families for his decision to return to military action instead of moving forward with phase two. The Hostage Familes’ Forum, which represents the relatives of those being held by Hamas, said families were “horrified to wake up this morning” to hear the defence minister’s statement of expanded military operations. “Has it been decided to sacrifice the hostages for the sake of ‘territorial gains’?” the group wrote in a statement.
Caitlin Allen
Deputy Editor
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