Jerusalem, Undefined – Israel on Tuesday unleashed its most intense campaign on the Gaza Strip since a January ceasefire, with rescuers reporting more than 220 people killed, prompting Hamas to accuse Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of torpedoing the truce.
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported more than 220 people had been killed “most of them children, women, and the elderly”. At least 150 people were also wounded by the “aggression, aerial bombardment and artillery shelling”.
Israel ordered all schools close to the regions neighbouring Gaza shut, as the government in a statement said it would now act with “increased military force” against Hamas.
Witkoff told CNN on Sunday he had offered a “bridge proposal” that would see five living hostages, including Israeli-American Edan Alexander, released in return for freeing a “substantial amount of Palestinian prisoners” from Israel jails.
Hamas on Friday had said it was ready to free Alexander and the remains of four others, who an official of the movement described as Israeli-Americans.
Witkoff said Hamas had provided “an unacceptable response” to the proposal and “the opportunity is closing fast.”
Deadlock
During the first phase of the truce agreement, Hamas released 33 hostages, including eight deceased, and Israel freed around 1,800 Palestinian detainees.
Since then, Hamas has consistently demanded negotiations for the second phase.
Former US president Joe Biden had outlined a second phase involving the release of remaining living hostages, the withdrawal of all Israeli forces left in Gaza and the establishment of a lasting ceasefire.
Israel, however, seeks to extend the first phase until mid-April, insisting that any transition to the second phase must include “the total demilitarisation” of Gaza and the removal of Hamas, which has controlled the territory since 2007.
The talks are now at an impasse, with both sides sticking to their positions and accusing each other of obstructing progress.
Israel has cut aid and electricity to the territory during the talks deadlock.
“It’s so hard for me to think about what they’re (hostages) going through right now because I know that feeling,” freed Israeli captive Omer Shem Tov said in a recently released video.
“It’s a terrible feeling and it has to stop as soon as possible.”
Hamas’ October 7 attack resulted in 1,218 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, while Israel’s retaliatory response in Gaza has killed at least 48,572 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.
Iran ‘will be held responsible’ for Huthi attacks
President Donald Trump on Monday declared he will hold Iran directly responsible for any future attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Huthi rebels, who have targeted multiple US and other foreign ships in the Red Sea.
While the United States has been carrying out strikes on Huthi targets for months, Trump’s comments were unusually pointed at Iran, whom he is also pressuring over nuclear talks.
He spoke after the first US strikes on Yemen of his new term killed 53 people and wounded 98 on Saturday.
In response the Huthis claimed two strikes on a US aircraft carrier and rallied thousands at protests in parts of Yemen under their control.
The United States struck the Huthis over their repeated attacks on Red Sea shipping vessels, which have put a major strain on the vital trade route.
The Huthis have said they are carrying out the attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is waging a war with US support.
“Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force,” Trump also said in his post, adding that “Iran has played ‘the innocent victim'” in the conflict.
Before this weekend’s targeting of the US carrier group, the Huthis had not claimed attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since January 19, when a ceasefire in Gaza began.
Trump, who ran for a second White House term in part based avoiding further involvement in Middle East conflict, has also called for a new nuclear deal with Iran while reinstating his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions.
