JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Saturday that it has launched a major operation in the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages, following days of strikes across the Palestinian territory that killed hundreds of people.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Operation Gideon Chariots was being led with “great force.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to escalate pressure with the aim of destroying the militant group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades.
The military operation came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump concluded his Middle East trip without a visit to Israel. There had been hope that Trump’s trip could increase the chances of a ceasefire deal or the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which Israel has prevented for more than two months.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas have yet to achieve progress in Qatar’s capital, Doha. Hamas, which released an Israeli-American hostage as a goodwill gesture before Trump’s trip, insists on a deal that ends the war and leads to the withdrawal of Israeli forces — something Israel said that it won’t agree to.
Israel’s army said on social media that it was intensifying attacks and exerting “tremendous pressure” on Hamas across Gaza, and wouldn’t stop until the hostages are returned and the militant group is dismantled.
Israel believes as many as 23 of the hostages in Gaza are still alive, although Israeli authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of them.
More than 150 people had been killed in Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It said more than 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a January ceasefire on March 18.
On Saturday afternoon, an Israeli strike killed at least four children in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the bodies. Seven others were wounded in the strike, which hit a house. A later strike in Jabaliya killed four, the hospital said.
Airstrikes around Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed 14 people, with the bodies arriving at al-Aqsa hospital. One strike on a house killed eight people, including parents and four children.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the strikes. A separate statement said that the military had killed dozens of fighters while dismantling an “underground route” in northern Gaza.
Month 3 of Israel’s blockade
Gaza is in the third month of an Israeli blockade with no food, water, fuel or other goods entering the territory of more than 2 million people. Food security experts say Gaza will be in famine if the blockade isn’t lifted.
Earlier this week, a new humanitarian organization that has U.S. backing to take over aid delivery said that it expects to begin operations by the end of the month, after what it described as key agreements with Israeli officials. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation identified several U.S. military veterans, former humanitarian coordinators and security contractors to lead the effort.
Many in the humanitarian community, including the U.N., said that they won’t participate, because the system doesn’t align with humanitarian principles and won’t be able to meet the needs of Palestinians in Gaza.
Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said Friday that there’s already an aid delivery plan with 160,000 pallets of supplies ready to move: “It is ready to be activated — today — if we are simply allowed to do our jobs.”
The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
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Samy Magdy reported from Cairo.
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