After Hamas refused to release the rest of the hostages, the IDF launched a wide ranging set of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip beginning at 2 am on Tuesday morning.
Hamas has claimed over 400 casualties after the IDF’s surprise airstrikes ordered by Prime Minister Netanyahu, but the numbers cannot be confirmed. The campaign is stopping short of Israel’s new top general Eyal Zamir’s plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip and crush Hamas once and for all to give the terror group a chance to agree to release the remaining hostages, but it appears that this window is rapidly closing and despite claims that Hamas is now in touch with hostage mediators, Israel’s government has lost patience, preparing for a total ground invasion after aerial bombing softens Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Prime Minister’s Office said that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have instructed the IDF to take strong action against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators. The IDF is, at this time, attacking targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip in order to achieve the objectives of the war as they have been determined by the political echelon including the release of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased. Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength. The operational plan was presented by the IDF over the weekend and approved by the political leadership,” the statement concluded.
While the leftwing and Qatar funded Hostage Families Forum slammed the resumption of the war, not one of the protestors in Tel Aviv can answer how Prime Minister Netanyahu should go about freeing the remaining hostages when it is Hamas who refuses to release the hostages.
Whether the current offensive remains limited in order to give Hamas a chance to release the hostages or is really the start of the climactic destruction of Hamas and the total military occupation of the Gaza Strip remains to be seen. One thing that is clear, General Eyal Zamir thinks in a far more comprehensive and offensive mindset - something that has long been absent in the IDF, but has come at the right time in order to give Israel the absolute victory it needs. The only question that remains - does the Prime Minister have the will to allow Zamir and the IDF to destroy Israel’s Gazan enemies once and for all?