Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a stark threat on Tuesday, saying that recent attacks on Gaza were “only the beginning” and that any future talks with Hamas would take place “only under fire.” This comes after a series of intense bombardments that have left more than 400 dead throughout the Gaza Strip, as reported by the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
In a video address, Netanyahu focused on military actions in the past 24 hours, promising that Hamas has already tasted Israeli military power. “This is just the beginning,” he said, underlining a change of approach to talks that stalled since the end of an initial peace deal’s first phase.
The Israeli prime minister declared that “from now on, negotiations will take place only under fire,” emphasizing the necessity of military pressure to obtain the release of the hostages abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 conflict. Israel pledged to persist in its military operations until the release of all hostages.
By Tuesday afternoon, though the ferocity of the attacks had lessened, there were still sporadic bombings. The conditions in Gaza were described by witnesses as hopelessly desperate, with one resident, Jihan Nahhal, saying it was “a real hell” and describing the horrifying explosions that reverberated throughout the city.
Hamas, which had abjured retaliation strikes, charged that Israel sought to compel it into surrender. Through a statement, the group appealed to its friendly nations to compel the United States to bring to an end the strikes executed by its ally Israel. White House officials corroborated that deliberations were made ahead of the strikes, with White House spokespeople insisting that Hamas was completely responsible for renewed conflict.
Reactions have been fast from all over the world, with the United Nations and other nations denouncing the attacks. Israeli hostage families have appealed to Netanyahu to end the violence, worried about their relatives being killed. Netanyahu’s office communicated that the military operation was launched after Hamas had declined to release the hostages.
The crisis deepened after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz cautioned Hamas that the “rules of the game have changed,” issuing a threat of complete military action until the group is “totally destroyed.” Reports confirmed that a number of top Hamas leaders, including Essam al-Dalis, were among the casualties in the airstrikes.
The Gaza health ministry said 413 bodies had been brought into hospitals, with numerous victims still buried under rubble. UNICEF pointed to the heartbreaking cost in children’s lives, verifying that numerous young lives have been lost or forever changed by the violence.
At a rally near Netanyahu’s office, hostage families cried out in despair, blaming the government for worsening the crisis. World leaders, such as Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, decried the violence, saying innocent civilians should not be held hostage in negotiations.
Iran condemned the Israeli attacks as a continuation of genocide against Palestinians, and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi condemned the attacks as attempts to render Gaza uninhabitable.
As tensions escalate, Netanyahu’s Likud party said that a far-right group, which had already left the government in protest of the truce, would return, signaling a change in political dynamics during the conflict.
In spite of the ceasefire initiated on January 19, which had temporarily brought hostilities to a standstill, the situation has worsened considerably since the first Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that led to a catastrophic loss of life on both sides. The conflict keeps changing, with Yemen’s Iran-aligned Huthi rebels also firing missiles into Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, adding more complexity to the regional dynamics.
