"As President Trump has made it clear - Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose," the White House spokesperson said.Canada’s CBC News reported: (2)
Trump had previously publicly warned using similar words, saying that Hamas should release all hostages in Gaza or "let hell break out."
Reuters on Tuesday had a live feed of news updates on the new Gaza strikes, “Israel Gaza Live: More than 325 reported killed in Israeli strikes, Hamas says ceasefire overturned.” (3)
The Guardian reported early Tuesday morning:
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) said the new air offensive would continue for as long as necessary and could extend beyond airstrikes, raising the prospect that Israeli ground troops could resume fighting.There is a long history with Israel and phased ceasefire agreements, ones in which the first stage is agreed upon and implemented with the later phases to be negotiated separately. And the later phases are scrapped when Israel launches massive attacks, routinely claiming that the Palestinians are at fault. (5) The current situation fits that pattern.
Civil defence teams in Gaza said they were overwhelmed. The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams dealt with 86 killed and 134 wounded, but others were brought to hospitals by private cars.
Officials from Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza and al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, which have all been extensively damaged in the war, said that altogether they had received about 85 dead. Witnesses reported bloody scenes with “body parts, corpses and the injured filling the floors of the hospitals”.
Hamas and Israel have accused each other of failing to respect the terms of the January ceasefire agreement. Earlier this month, Israel blocked deliveries of aid from entering Gaza and cut off remaining electricity supplies in a bid to pressure Hamas. (4)
As Emir Nader reports for BBC News:
In recent days, the United States and Israel have cast Hamas's preference for sticking close to the terms of the original ceasefire deal - instead of renegotiating its terms - as a "refusal" to extend the ceasefire.Al Jazeera provided this early report: (7)
US envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of "publicly claiming flexibility while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent ceasefire."
While, in late February, Israeli officials had already briefed local press that its military wouldn't withdraw from key sites in Gaza in a breach of the ceasefire agreement.
While we cannot know the detail of the negotiation talks that have taken place behind closed doors - what we do know is that Israel halting aid entering Gaza 17 days ago was an attempt to force Hamas into offering new concessions.
That hasn't worked so far and now it appears Israel has returned to violence in order to try to extract a new deal, one that is more favourable for its political leaders, and one that offers fewer wins to Hamas. (6)
Amos Harel reports that Netanyahu’s decision to launch a new massive attack on Gaza which the American Peace President has fully supported was heavily affected by the ongoing political crisis, the result of the Israeli Prime Minister’s attempt to establish an Orbanist-type authoritarian rule in Israel itself and of his effort to avoid being tried on corruption charges:
It was Israel's government that failed to uphold the agreement when it didn't complete the promised withdrawal of IDF forces from the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, particularly from the Philadelphi route along the Gaza-Egypt border.Alon Pinkas is also warning of a new stage in Netanyahu’s movement to Orbanizue Israeli governance, focusing on Netanyahu’s firing of Ronen Bar as head of the Shin Bet, one of Israel’s three intelligence services (along with Mossad and military intelligence). Pinkas calls it “a fundamental constitutional crisis that is not your standard Israeli political emergency.” (9)
Hamas refused to turn a blind eye and move forward with the release of hostages under the new mediation proposals put forward by the Americans, which caused the negotiations to stall. In response, Israel resumed fighting early Tuesday morning.
What follows may include more massive airstrikes, but also the implementation of a new and wide-ranging ground maneuver in Gaza, led by the new IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, in hopes of finally defeating Hamas.
Zamir has said that carrying out the plan would require several IDF divisions. This would again require a large-scale reserve call-up – for the first time under conditions where there is no real public consensus on the justification for returning to war. [my emphasis] (8)
In a functioning democracy with multiple layers of effective checks, balances and guardrails, the dismissal of the head of an internal security agency is not a defining moment. In a functioning democracy, the head of the Shin Bet is both replaceable and even expendable.The war that began on October 7, 2023 is the longest that Israel has fought in its history. And it’s happening at the same time that Netanyahu and his supporters are working to undermine its democratic form of government.
But Israel under Netanyahu is not a functioning democracy but rather, a liberal democracy being coerced into transforming to a quasi-authoritarian illiberal democracy. ...
This is Israeli democracy's "to be or not to be" moment. ...
This is Israel's "Weimar moment," and its fragile, brittle, precarious democracy is being lethally challenged by a desperate, unhinged man who has waged war on his own country for the past two years. If you think this is hyperbole, look at the Weimar Republic and think of Israel being in a "Weimar moment" ever since Netanyahu instigated his constitutional coup in January 2023. [my emphasis]
Notes:
(1) 'Take Trump seriously': WH warns 'terrorists in the Middle East' after cease-fire collapse. Ynet News 03/08/2025. <https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjggyli3yl> (Accessed: 2025-18-03).
(2) Israel sends barrage of airstrikes into Gaza. CBC News YouTube channel 03/18/2025. <https://youtu.be/ZMn2H0MU1zo?si=_wP3kwq_EySl3REJ> (Accessed: 2025-18-03).
(3) Reuters 02/18/2025. <https://www.reuters.com/world/israel-hamas-live-updates-israeli-air-strikes-across-gaza-more-than-200-reported-2025-03-18/> (Accessed: 2025-18-03 5:42 EDT).
(4) Burke, Jason & Tantes, Malak (2025): Israeli strikes kill hundreds in Gaza. The Guardian 03/18/2025. <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/18/israel-gaza-strikes-deaths-latest-update> (Accessed: 2025-18-03).
(5) Center for Preventive Action (2025): Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 01/22/2025. Council on Foreign Relations. <https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflict> (Accessed: 2025-18-03).
(6) Nader, Emire (2025): Why the Gaza ceasefire has not held. BBC News 03/18/2025. <https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6yp5d5v9jo> (Accessed: 2025-18-03).
(7) Israel launches strikes across Gaza Strip, killing dozens and ending ceasefire. Al Jazeera English YouTube channel 03/1/8/2025. <https://youtu.be/JiDOxu723uI?si=vp9MsmnEeQiwDEJN> (Accessed: 2025-18-03).
(8) Harel, Amos (2025): Israel's Renewed Gaza Offensive Exposes Netanyahu's Real Goal: Political Survival Through Endless War. Haaretz 03/18//2025. <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-03-18/ty-article/.premium/israels-renewed-gaza-offensive-exposes-netanyahus-goal-political-survival-through-war/00000195-a83b-d922-af9d-be3f58640000> (Accessed: 2025-18-03).
(9) Pinkas, Alon (2025): Netanyahu's Firing of Shin Bet Head Is Israel's 'Weimar Moment'. Haaretz 03/17/2025. <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-03-17/ty-article/.highlight/netanyahus-firing-of-shin-bet-head-is-israels-weimar-moment/00000195-a460-d2f3-abfd-f4fb227d0000> (Accessed: 2025-18-03).
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