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“The Israeli military said on Wednesday its forces resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip, as a second day of airstrikes killed at least 48 Palestinians, according to local health workers. The renewed ground operations came a day after more than 400 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in one of the deadliest episodes since the beginning of the conflict in October 2023, shattering a ceasefire that has largely held since January.” Reuters
Earlier this month, “Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza… Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said earlier that it had adopted a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza for the Ramadan and Passover periods, hours after the first phase of the previously agreed ceasefire expired…
“The truce would be conditional on Hamas releasing half of the living and dead hostages on the first day, with the remainder released at the conclusion, if an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire. Hamas says it is committed to the originally agreed ceasefire that had been scheduled to move into a second phase, with negotiations aimed at a permanent end to the war, and it has rejected the idea of a temporary extension to the 42-day truce. A senior Hamas official, Mahmoud Mardawi, told Al Jazeera the group would only release the remaining Israeli hostages under the terms of the already agreed-upon phased deal.” Reuters
Here’s our coverage of the January ceasefire deal. The Flip Side
The left is critical of Israel’s offensive, arguing that it failed to honor the terms of the ceasefire and continues to kill civilians.
“Israel had repeatedly violated terms of the ceasefire deal it agreed to in January. With support from the Trump administration, Israel refused to withdraw its soldiers from Gaza, as was required in the agreement. It continued its military operations and bombings, and it blocked humanitarian aid and electricity from entering the territory where more than 2 million Palestinians live, which amounts to violations of international humanitarian law…
“[Netanyahu has] faced backlash after firing top Israeli officials, including the head of Shin Bet, an intelligence agency that recently released a report blaming the Israeli government, including Netayahu, for failing to heed warnings of the October 7 attacks. The agency also is investigating the government’s ties with Qatar. Netanyahu is also on trial for corruption charges… [But] The attacks on Tuesday already won favor of one key right-wing ally.”
Jonah Valdez, The Intercept
“In January, Trump secured the ceasefire that the Biden administration promised for half a year was imminent but never delivered. But Israel – throughout 2024, the intransigent party – accepted the ceasefire without committing to its crucial second phase, wherein it would negotiate a military withdrawal from Gaza…
“During the ceasefire, Trump sold Israel billions worth of weapons and mused openly about ethnically cleansing Gaza. And when the ceasefire's first 42-day phase expired, Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff presented a proposal that recapitulated the terms of phase one, while Hamas insisted instead on progressing to phase two of the deal they thought everyone had obligated themselves. With that, the White House portrayed Hamas as the rejectionists.”
Spencer Ackerman, Zeteo
“CNN reported that Israel’s onslaught threw ‘doubt on the fragile ceasefire’. Orwellian doesn’t even begin to describe such framing. As it is, there was no ‘ceasefire’: not if your definition is firing ceasing. A single Israeli has been reported to have died in Gaza during the ‘ceasefire’: a contractor killed by the Israeli army, who mistook him for a Palestinian. A reported 150 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during this ‘ceasefire’…
“Here is an example of how Israeli violence is endlessly indulged and Palestinian life is stripped of any meaning. If just one Israeli soldier had been killed by a Hamas militant, I predict many politicians and media outlets would have immediately pronounced the ceasefire over. This same narrative is why we are led to believe that peace prevailed before 7 October, even when 238 Palestinians – 44 of them children – had been killed in the previous nine months. Future generations may well ask: ‘How was a crime that obscene facilitated for so long?’”
Owen Jones, The Guardian
The right supports Israel’s offensive and blames Hamas for not releasing more hostages.
The right supports Israel’s offensive and blames Hamas for not releasing more hostages.
“For decades, the West has indulged the fantasy that peace can be brokered between a democratic state and a genocidal terrorist organization while blaming the predictable lack of peace on the side that actually wants peace: Israel. And for those who demand Israel cease airstrikes, citing the obvious and undeniable fact that civilian casualties are tragic, they should explain: What should Israel do?…
“The moral calculations of Israel's critics are fundamentally broken. If Hamas chooses to launch attacks from civilian areas, use civilians as human shields, and embed military assets within hospitals and schools, the blame for any civilian casualties lies squarely at their feet… [Instead] Israel is always guilty, Hamas is always innocent, and the so-called international order is far too happy to sit back, tweet ‘war is bad’ and make excuses for those whose one goal in life is to murder every Jew on the planet.”
Ian Haworth, Substack
“Repeat after me: Gaza's official source are all Hamas.The 'health ministry'? Hamas. The 'civil defense' ministry? Hamas. These figures are every bit as reliable as the Hamas claim that Israel had destroyed the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City. It took the New York Times eight days to semi-retract that claim, even though the first sunrise showed that the hospital was still intact except for its windows, which had been blown out by an errant Gazan rocket aimed at Israel…
“The war was never over in the first place, and now it's back on. This is what the Gazans bought when they elected Hamas to run their enclave, and then celebrated every disgusting atrocity Hamas committed. If they want an end to the war, then they need to do what every other aggressor whose war of annihilation backfired on them had to do: beg for mercy, deliver the hostages unconditionally, and surrender their leadership to the victors.”
Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
“As painful as it is to say, it was only a matter of time before the ceasefire in Gaza collapsed… Because the agreement was structured in multiple phases, many of the big political decisions — from coming to a consensus on ending the war to rebuilding Gaza and creating a whole new political authority for the enclave after 17 years of Hamas rule — were effectively kicked to a later date…
“Netanyahu is betting that an escalation of the war will, over time, compel Hamas’ leadership to do what it hasn’t done over the last 17 months: hand over its arms, demobilize and excommunicate itself from Gaza entirely. In other words, total and complete surrender. Whether or not he genuinely believes this is possible is beside the point. Either way, it sure looks like Netanyahu has calculated that an unending military campaign serves his best political interests.”
Daniel DePetris, MSNBC
