Sources in the Gaza reported more overnight airstrikes after Israel resumed the war after Monday midnight claiming that Hamas had rejected American proposals for the release of Israeli hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had adopted the framework of President Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a temporary ceasefire for the Ramadan and Passover period and that the launch of the airstrikes was coordinated with President Trump and his staff.
Contrary to the war in Ukraine, where the Trump administration had adopted President Zelensky’s ceasefire proposal, the US did not care about the ceasefire in Gaza and adopted a policy which played into the hands of Netanyahu.
The American proposals were intended to extend the first phase of the ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas after Israel had breached the agreement by refusing to continue its withdrawal of troops from Gaza and enter into talks on the second phase.
The second phase was supposed to lead to the release of the remaining hostages and a permanent end of the hostilities, paving the way for the rebuilding of the devastated Gaza Strip and a political solution to the conflict.
But Netanyahu has been under pressure by his extremist coalition partners to resume the war or risk the dissolution of his government and new elections which he would lose according to opinion polls.
A critical vote on the state budget is expected by the end of March and he barely had a majority to approve the budget after the extremist national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir and his party had left the government in protest against the ceasefire agreement. It is hardly a coincidence that the air strikes were almost immediately followed by the reappointment of Ben Gvir and two other minsters.
In a new statement on Tuesday evening, Netanyahu cynically continued to justify the strikes and claimed that Israel was targeting Hamas terrorists. If Palestinian civilians were victims of the strikes, it was because they were used by Hamas as human shields, he stated. “Every civilian casualty is a tragedy and every civilian casualty is the fault of Hamas."
However, Israel has only named a small number of Hamas operatives, including members of its civil administration, that were targeted and killed. If the death toll reported by the Gazan health ministry is correct, hundreds of civilians were killed in the strikes, in breach of international humanitarian law.
The Israeli government says that it wants to bring home the hostages and destroy what remains of Hamas, both its military and government capabilities. Both goals are unachievable and the resumption of the war is a death sentence for the hostages who still are alive. In Tel Aviv, some 40,000 people protested on Tuesday evening against Netanyahu and his government. A former intelligence chief accused him of changing Israel’s democratic character.
In a joint statement on Tuesday afternoon, High Representative Kallas and Commissioners Šuica and Lahbib stated that the EU “deplored the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza and the deaths of civilians, including children, in Israeli airstrikes”.
“The EU calls on Israel to end its military operations and reiterates its call on Hamas to release all the hostages immediately. It urges Israel to exercise restraint and to resume unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid and electricity to Gaza. We call on all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law.”
“The EU believes that the resumption of negotiations is the only way forward. Palestinians and Israelis have suffered immensely over the past year and a half. It is time to break the cycle of violence. Stability is a prerequisite for swift reconstruction.”
