The ground operations of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza have entered a new and more intense stage, as Israel, with the approval of President Donald Trump, is no longer observing the restrictions on its operations insisted upon by then-President Joe Biden. Those restrictions enabled Hamas not only to survive the previous IDF operations but also to remain in effective control of Gaza on the ground by hijacking the humanitarian aid being delivered for the benefit of the civilian population and controlling its distribution.
But for the past month, Israel has shut off deliveries of all sources of food, fuel, medicine, and other supplies for Gaza’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians, as well as Israeli-generated electrical power. A statement from Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu’s office cited as its justification for resuming military operations in Gaza Hamas’ “repeated refusal to release [the 59] hostages” both alive and dead, that it is still holding, or to extend the first phase of the January ceasefire deal based on the proposals by President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
This week, the IDF ordered the evacuation of a large area in southern Gaza, including a large swath of land between Rafah and Khan Younis, where the IDF has never attacked with ground forces before, because, military officials said, it is “returning to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terror organizations in these areas.”
The evacuation order was issued by the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, to the residents of three eastern Khan Younis neighborhoods, urging them to move west toward shelters established in the Israeli-declared Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone. It said, “This is your final warning. Terror groups continue launching rockets near civilians.”
ISRAEL’S NEW GAZA ATTACK PLAN
The extended operation is expected to start with massive airstrikes on the evacuated areas before IDF ground forces push further into Gaza from the buffer zones it currently holds along the Israeli-Gaza border, according to a Times of Israel report. The ground operation will consist of elements from four IDF divisions making major pushes simultaneously on both the northern and southern ends of Gaza, and result in a much larger portion of Gaza being occupied by the Israeli military.
However, it will not require the immediate call-up of additional units of reserve soldiers, even though reserve units already on active duty will take part in the campaign.
IDF planners are expecting Hamas’ military forces, partially rebuilt with thousands of newly recruited replacement fighters, to carry out some attacks on the Israeli troops involved in the new ground operation.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that his security cabinet voted last Saturday night to further increase the military pressure on Hamas. According to the Times of Israel report, the aim of the new IDF “maximum pressure” operation is to force Hamas to accept Israel’s demands for a deal to release at least some, if not all, of the remaining hostages, along the lines of the latest proposal submitted to both sides by Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff.
THE NEW AMERICAN-PROPOSED CEASEFIRE TIMETABLE
It calls upon Hamas to release 11 (about half) of the still-living hostages on the first day of a new 40-day ceasefire, and one of them must be dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander, whom Hamas has indicated that it is ready to return as a goodwill gesture towards President Trump.
On the fifth day of the ceasefire, Hamas will be required to give Israel updated information on all of the remaining hostages, including the names of all the ones who are still alive.
Israel believes that up to 24 of the hostages remaining in Gaza are still alive. The 35 confirmed dead hostages include the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in the 2014 Gaza war.
On day 10 of the new ceasefire, Hamas will be required to turn over the bodies of half of the dead hostages that it is still holding.
Chaim Levenson, writing for Ha’aretz, reports that “from Washington’s perspective, there is only one deal on the table: the Witkoff framework [which] calls for the release of half the remaining hostages now.
“If Hamas wants in, it’s welcome. If not, Israel is free to proceed as it sees fit.
“The core dispute remains Hamas’ demand for [American] ‘guarantees’ that once the last hostage is returned, Israel won’t reoccupy Gaza.
“Hamas wants the deal to be anchored in a U.N. Security Council resolution, a demand unacceptable to both Israel and the U.S.”
Ha’aretz reports that Hamas surprised mediators by rejecting the Witkoff proposal. . . [and, instead, offered] “to release only Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli citizen, along with the bodies of four other American citizens,” totally ignoring requests for the release of any other Israeli hostages.
An Arab source also told Ha’aretz that “Witkoff and his team…believe Hamas’ stubbornness will eventually break — and that only then can things move forward.”
ISRAEL WON’T PERMIT HUMANITARIAN AID DELIVERIES TO GAZA FOR A WHILE
Meanwhile, no further aid deliveries to Gaza will be permitted by Israel, at least through the initial stages of the new IDF operation, because Israeli officials insist that enough aid was delivered to Gaza during the two-month-long ceasefire that started in January to provide for the needs of Gaza’s population for the next several months. These same officials accuse Hamas of hoarding the supplies for itself or selling them to civilians at grossly inflated prices on the black market.
However, the United Nations warned last week that Gaza’s bakeries are about to run out of flour for making bread and said that humanitarian agencies in Gaza have cut food distributions to families by half. In addition, vegetable markets no longer have much produce to sell, and many humanitarian aid workers are afraid to travel throughout Gaza for fear of being injured by renewed and intensified Israeli air strikes targeting terror targets.
The first phase of the multi-phase ceasefire and hostage release deal reached between Hamas and Israel in January expired without the start of the negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire, because Israel would not agree to a complete IDF withdrawal from Gaza, which was a requirement of the second phase, without reliable assurances that Hamas would fulfill its obligation to release all of the remaining hostages, alive and dead.
After it became apparent that the negotiations to further extend the first phase of the ceasefire were hopelessly deadlocked, Israel halted the flow of further humanitarian aid into Gaza on March 2, and resumed military attacks against Hamas targets in Gaza on March 18, in what the IDF has called “Operation Strength and Sword.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to insist, in response to large public protests led by the families of the remaining hostages demanding an agreement for their immediate return, that the only method that has proven to be successful in getting Hamas to release some of the hostages has been an increase in the military pressure applied to Gaza by the IDF.
Since the ceasefire broke down, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have resumed their rocket fire at Israel. Last week, Hamas launched rockets at central Israel, including the Tel Aviv area. PIJ has directed its fire to Israeli communities near Gaza, but some of its rockets reportedly misfired and landed inside Gaza.
ISRAEL TARGETING HAMAS’ SURVIVING POLITICAL LEADERS
Meanwhile, Israel has launched air strikes targeting the surviving members of Hamas’ ruling political committee in Gaza, as well as its mid-level military commanders. Israel has also intensified the air strikes against dozens of Hamas’ remaining military facilities and infrastructure, including weapon depots and rocket launchers. The IDF has also been targeting surviving members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has reportedly recently been receiving more military aid from Iran, as well as the other smaller terrorist groups still active in Gaza.
In one incident over the weekend, an Israeli D9 armored bulldozer suffered a nearby explosion, but no casualties, while operating in the central buffer zone along Gaza’s border. It was not immediately apparent whether the explosion was the result of the bulldozer detonating a piece of unexploded munitions or an anti-tank rocket attack.
However, the IDF did respond by shelling the area from which the mortar fire emanated near Khan Yunis.
Al Jazeera reported, citing Hamas-controlled medical sources, that at least 14 Palestinians were killed and several others were wounded in the Israeli air strikes over the weekend, but once again, it did not report how many of those casualties were terrorists.
ISRAEL INSISTING UPON ITS ORIGINAL WAR AIMS
The Israeli government is reportedly willing to engage in talks with Hamas on ending the war in Gaza permanently, but only if the agreement meets Israel’s major war aims announced immediately following the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that started the war. Israel will insist upon the disarming of Hamas and other Gaza terror groups, the exile of Hamas leaders to another country, and a new governing structure for the civilian population of Gaza that excludes any Hamas participation.
Meanwhile, the IDF will continue to occupy the wide buffer zone that it has already cleared inside the Gaza border to protect nearby Israeli communities from renewed missile or terrorist ground attacks.
Israel has yet to receive a response from Hamas leaders after it resubmitted these demands to the Qatari and Egyptian mediators conducting the current indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas last weekend.
A FULL-SCALE BATTLE IN GAZA WILL REQUIRE ANOTHER CALL-UP OF RESERVES
If Hamas continues in its stubborn refusal to meet Israel’s demands, the IDF will be forced to issue another emergency call-up of its reserve divisions to provide it with enough soldiers to retake Gaza by militarily defeating Hamas’ remaining forces through full-scale combat in the field.
Meanwhile, a Jerusalem Post editorial has warned that, “despite the grand promises and threats of President Donald Trump, and despite a successful first phase [ceasefire]. . . [the remaining hostages] are out of time. It is preposterous to say it a year and a half after they were kidnapped, but those who are alive are being tortured like animals and hanging on by a thread. They need to be brought home now.”
The Jerusalem Post editorial cites a report claiming that “Israel demanded 10 living hostages in the first phase of a 40-day ceasefire and hostage deal, instead of the five that Hamas was reportedly offering.”
CALLS IN ISRAEL FOR A HOSTAGE DEAL NOW AT ANY PRICE
But the editorial argues that the danger to the lives of the remaining hostages, based upon “testimonies from released hostages,” is so grave that Israel must accept, “whatever deal is possibly pending, [because] time is of the essence.”
The editorial reiterates “what hostage families and released hostages have said for months — those who have told their [heart-rending] story publicly and those who preferred anonymity, given the gravity of what they endured and the very real fear [for the fate of] the hostages who remain behind.” Their family members and loved ones are rightfully concerned about their untreated injuries, suffered when they were captured during the October 7 attack, and their brutal treatment and deliberate starvation during their more than a year and a half in captivity.
But putting the Israeli government under political pressure from hostage family members demanding their immediate return was the reason why Hamas took so many hostages in the first place. Giving in to Hamas’ demands will only encourage it and Israel’s other enemies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, to take more Israelis hostage in the future.
While public sympathy in Israel for the release of the hostages and the suffering of their families is understandably overwhelming, there is another serious moral consideration that must be weighed when advocating for another agreement with Hamas for the return of the remaining hostages. Hamas is demanding the release of hundreds of dangerous terrorists currently serving long terms in Israeli prisons.
REMEMBER THE HIGH COST TO ISRAEL OF HAVING RELEASED YAHYA SINWAR
The Jerusalem Post editorial argues that it is “time to bring them home” and that Israel “must not lose sight of the core values that bind us together” as fellow Jews. But Israel’s leaders also must not ignore the fact that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas mastermind who planned and carried out the devastating October 7 attack that took 1200 Israeli lives, and those of the more than 400 Israeli soldiers killed during the Gaza war that followed, was among the 1027 Palestinian terrorists who were released from Israeli prisons in 2011.
These terrorists were freed in exchange for the return of one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas in 2006 during a raid on the Kerem Shalom Gaza border crossing point. Many of those released terrorists, in addition to Sinwar, were also responsible for subsequently taking the lives of more Israelis killed in terrorist attacks during the 14 years since Shalit’s release.
While the pleas by the family members for a deal with Hamas for the release of the remaining hostages at any price are emotionally compelling, we must not forget that Hamas’ price includes the lives of the untold number of Jews who will almost certainly be killed or injured in the years ahead by the Palestinian terrorists released in exchange for the return of no more than 24 still living hostages being held by Hamas today.
TRUMP IS ENCOURAGING ISRAEL TO “FINISH THE JOB” IN GAZA AS IT SEES FIT
The renewed determination by Israel’s leaders to “finish the job” of destroying Hamas this time is being encouraged by the full support of the new American president, instead of the increasingly troublesome obstruction and public criticism from his predecessor, Joe Biden. Writing on the RealClearDefense website, Eyal Tsir Cohen and Jesse Weinberg cite the critical failure of the Biden administration’s “public rhetoric and diplomatic approach [which] inadvertently[?] strengthened Hamas’ [opposition to a comprehensive peace deal] and hindered a speedier resolution to the hostage crisis.”
Cohen and Weinberg note that “on February 8, 2024, President Biden. . . unknowingly[?] aligned with Hamas’ goals. . . [when he] publicly criticized Israel’s offensive as ‘over the top.’” White House officials also repeatedly warned Israel to halt its planned military operation in Rafah, saying that such an escalation would be unacceptable.
“For Hamas, these statements confirmed that time was on its side. Rather than make concessions, Hamas interpreted U.S. pressure on Israel as a sign that it could hold firm, delay negotiations, and wait for Washington to force Israeli withdrawals. A Hamas official reportedly told an Arab media outlet at the time: ‘If the Americans push Israel hard enough, we won’t need to concede anything.’ Threats from Washington to withhold military aid reinforced Hamas’ belief that Israel would ultimately be forced to back down.
“The turning point in hostage negotiations was not diplomatic pressure but military action. Only after suffering significant territorial and operational losses did Hamas shift its position, [and agree to a temporary ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange] deal. The lesson [that Cohen and Weinberg] take from this episode is that any diplomatic effort that pressures Israel without demanding immediate concessions from Hamas will only prolong crises — not resolve them.”
ISRAEL HAS NOW ADOPTED A MORE AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY IN GAZA
Writing in the Jerusalem Post, Daniel M. Rosen states that Israel’s current military operations in the Gaza have diminished, even further, Hamas’ operational capacity to launch substantial attacks. One indication he notes is that since the fighting in Gaza has resumed, Hamas has launched only four rockets at Israel. In addition, there have been no reported attempts by Hamas terrorist cells to infiltrate Israeli territory during this period.
Rosen credits this to the IDF expanding its operations “to target not only military assets but also key components of Hamas’s civilian infrastructure, aiming to disrupt the organization’s governance and operational control” in a marked change in strategy from a “conquer and leave” approach, which would enable Hamas to quickly reestablish control after an IDF attack on a Hamas stronghold. A more effective strategy, advocated by John Spencer, the chairman of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute called “conquer, hold, and build,” which seeks to dismantle Hamas’ rule in Gaza entirely rather than just to degrade its military strength.
If Israel is following this approach, Rosen writes, “[it] must be prepared not just to win the war in Gaza, but also to win the peace. When Israel can hold the territory and reassure the inhabitants that there will be no reemergence of Hamas, the rebuilding of [Gaza] can [finally] begin.”
Rosen also cites “several factors that have enabled Israel to adopt this new approach:
“The IDF’s accumulated experience in Gaza and Lebanon has provided improved operational efficiency in addition to valuable intelligence on the ground.
“The current U.S. administration has shown increased support for Israel’s methodology and has indicated a willingness for Israel to ‘finish the job’ as it sees fit.
“Under the guidance of the new Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz, the IDF has implemented tactics consistent with the notion of ‘total victory,’ including both military and civil targets of Hamas.
“Additionally, with Hezbollah, Iran, and the Houthis remaining largely out of the current conflict, Israel can concentrate its resources and attention on Gaza, enhancing the effectiveness of its operations.”
CIVILIAN RESISTANCE TO HAMAS NOW GROWING INSIDE GAZA
There has been another encouraging recent development for those who want to see an end to the war inside Gaza itself. That is the willingness of thousands of Palestinian civilians living in Gaza to risk their lives by publicly protesting against their continued rule by Hamas, which has cost tens of thousands of civilian lives and turned many of Gaza’s residential neighborhoods into seas of rubble.
There is much irony in the fact that while many Gazans are risking serious retaliation for protesting in the streets against Hamas’ rule, thousands of Marxist and other leftist activists and students, including, sadly, many badly misguided Jews, are protesting on college campuses across the country and around the world in support of the Hamas terrorists who do not deny their genocidal intentions against Israel as well as the rest of the Jewish people around the world.
Many of us have also learned since the October 7 attack by Hamas that we were wrong to feel safe from antisemitism just because we have lived all our lives as proud and loyal citizens of a free country such as the United States.
These same Islamic terrorists also have no regard for the lives of their fellow Muslims in Gaza, whom they have routinely used as human shields against Israeli attack, and denied them their basic human rights, including freedom of speech.
MISLED HAMAS SUPPORTERS, INCLUDING SOME JEWS
Many of those who claim that they are fighting for the “liberation of Palestine” by harassing Jews on college campuses and staging openly antisemitic demonstrations in the streets of Jewish communities, such as Boro Park, are being deluded by a highly sophisticated and well-organized international pro-Hamas public relations campaign. With the open encouragement of many progressive Democrats, it has already captured most of our major cultural and academic institutions and leading mainstream news media outlets, including the New York Times and the BBC. It is only since President Trump took office that those colleges that have denied their
Jewish students the protection they deserve from antisemitic intimidation are being made to pay a significant price for their blatant hypocrisy and shameful tolerance of the evil in their midst.
The Israel-Hamas war is more tragic than most because the forces claiming to fight “on behalf of Gazans” are not actually fighting for them. As Josefa Gonzalez of the Philos Project for Christian advocacy in the Middle East writes in the Jerusalem Post, “these so-called ‘pro-Palestinian protesters’ are not advocating for what real Gazans want or need. Instead, they are parroting talking points directly from Hamas while threatening Jews on campus.”
A DISAPPOINTING RESPONSE TO THE BRAVERY OF PROTESTING GAZANS
As Gonzalez also writes, this is a very disappointing response for “the protesters in Gaza, chanting ‘Hamas are terrorists!’ [who] are risking not only their livelihoods but their lives to speak out against an oppressive [Hamas] regime.”
As researchers Neoini Neumann and Nikhil Samuel of the Washington Institute write, “Although the unusually bold demonstrations are unlikely to shake [Hamas’] local control, they have cracked the barrier of fear that Hamas nurtured inside Gaza and offer an opportunity to amplify alternative Palestinian voices.”
Neumann and Samuel note that while the total number of protesters who are calling for Hamas to “relinquish power, leave the area, and cease hostilities with Israel” is not yet clear, “so far, the main protest hubs are in Gaza City and the northern part of [Gaza] — areas where the current war’s devastation is most apparent, [but] “the unrest appears to be spreading to the central and southern regions as well.”
They also note that “protests against Hamas are not unusual, even during the war, but the scale and boldness of the criticisms voiced this week are unprecedented. Over the past year, Hamas has worked to suppress such dissent through intimidation and violence, and it may resort to such tactics again.
“[Hamas] continues to control all civilian and economic institutions [in Gaza]. Even so, the group may find it difficult to suppress a widespread, well-organized movement without severe repercussions.”
Meanwhile, Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA) are using the protests against Hamas rule to promote their proposal for disarming Hamas when the war in Gaza is finally over, and forcing it to return its control over Gaza to the PA, which lost it in 2007 to a violent Hamas coup.
HAMAS REACTS TO THE PROTESTS WITH A CLEVER MESSAGING CAMPAIGN
Hamas has reacted by trying to suppress expressions of support for the protest inside Gaza on social media, and conventional news coverage of the protest with the help of Qatar’s Al Jazeera network, which has been banned, not only in Israel, but also in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, for giving terrorists access to its popular media platform.
Neumann and Samuel also cite reports that “Hamas has cautioned protesters [in Gaza] not to shift blame away from Israel for their dire humanitarian situation.” They also suspect that the recent “rocket fire from Gaza may have been [a Hamas] attempt to provoke an Israeli response that would undermine the momentum and legitimacy of the [internal Gaza] protests.”
The two Washington Institute analysts also speculate that the anti-Hamas protests in Gaza could give more leverage to Egyptian mediators in light of demands by some of those protesters for Egypt to assume administrative control of Gaza from Hamas. They note reports that the Egyptian government is already “amenable to taking action of some sort inside [Gaza], if only to sidestep those who would pressure Egypt into opening its border and providing safe haven to Palestinian refugees [who have again been] displaced by the renewed warfare [in Gaza].”
REASONS FOR OPTIMISM
While it is still too soon to declare that a satisfactory end to the war in Gaza, from Israel’s viewpoint, is in sight, there certainly have been several encouraging moves in that direction in recent months. These include the “green light” given to Israel by President Trump to “finish the job” however it sees fit, to the more aggressive strategy adopted by the IDF needed to eliminate rather than just reduce the threat from Hamas, and the start of significant public protests against the continuation of Hamas rule by the residents of Gaza themselves.
