Israel led violent air attacks in the Gaza Strip this Tuesday, March 18 in response “to Hamas’ refusal to release the hostages”. But the families of Israeli captives denounce the offensive which left more than 300 dead.
The truce will have lasted two months in Gaza. Israel has broken the ceasefire this Tuesday, March 18, by launching several unprecedented air attacks since the end of January. In a few hours, the strikes left more than 330 dead, including a “majority of Palestinian children and women”, according to the Gaza Strip Ministry of Health. The attacks also made “hundreds of wounded, of which dozens are in critical condition”.
The strikes on the Palestinian enclave, decided by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense Israel Katz, are justified by the Israeli government by the “repeated refusal of Hamas to release our hostages as well as to its rejection of all proposals [d’accord] that he received from the American presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and the mediators “.
“We will not stop fighting as long as not all the kidnappeds go home and that all the objectives of the war are not achieved,” insisted Minister Israel Katz insisted after the attack. An offensive claimed and carried out with the support of the United States reports the Wall Street Journal. The American presidency confirmed that it has given the green light to the attack. “Hamas could have released the hostages to prolong the ceasefire, but instead, it refused and chosen war,” said a White House spokesman Brian Hughes to legitimize the offensive.
The air attacks operated on the night of Monday to Tuesday have been “developed and planned in recent weeks since the entry according to the new chief of staff,” said far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. “With the help of God, the result will be radically different from what has been accomplished so far. We will have to re -mobilize with force, faith and determination, until victory, with the help of God,” added the minister.
Israel “has chosen to abandon hostages” according to families of captives
But these air attacks, supposed to work for the release of civilians still retained by Hamas, alive or dead, are not supported by the families of the hostages. On the contrary, the Families des Familles des Otages condemned new bombings targeting Gaza and rejects the arguments put forward by Benyamin Netanyahu in a statement published this Tuesday, March 18: “To claim that war is relaunched to obtain the release of hostages is pure deception: military pressure endangers hostages and soldiers”. Relatives of the captives of Hamas call for “returning to the ceasefire” and criticizing the government of Gaza for not having put as much effort in the negotiations as in the strikes: “Why don’t you fight in the negotiation room? Why did you retire from the agreement that could have brought everyone back to his home?”
“Taking up the fighting before the release of the last hostage will be at the expense of the 59 hostages still in Gaza which could be saved and repatriated,” adds the forum of the hostage families which considers that “the Israeli government has chosen to abandon the hostages”.
In addition to the families of the hostages of Hamas, from political opponents to the Israeli Prime Minister also castigated the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip. The leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Yaïr Golan, estimated on X that “soldiers on the front line and the hostages in Gaza are only cards in [le] Survival game “by Benyamin Netanyahu who” uses the lives of our citizens and our soldiers because he trembles with fear “.
As for Hamas, he accuses Israel of having “torpedoed” the truce in place since January 19. “Netanyahu has decided to resume the war of extermination in which he sees a lifeline for internal crises” that Israel crosses, can be read in a press release from the Islamist movement. And Hamas added: “Netanyahu’s decision to resume war is a decision to sacrifice prisoners [du mouvement gazaoui et de ses alliés, ndlr] and a death sentence against them. “A direct threat targeting the hostages that weakens the argument of Israel explaining these new bombings.
A fragile truce from the start
The truce between Israel and Hamas has always been fragile. While the first phase was coming to an end and negotiations on a new ceasefire sequence had to take place to continue the release of the remaining hostages – 59 Israeli captives are still retained in Gaza, several of which would have died – Israel has finally put an end to the truce. A decision made after Hamas’ refusal to accept an American proposal concerning an extension of the first truce phase, rather than the start of a second phase supposed to lead to a more final ceasefire.