Trump said to ‘green-light’ renewal of Gaza strikes, as world laments truce collapse
Israel let White House know ahead of resumption of war, says it is hitting terror targets; Russia warns against ‘spiral of escalation’; Turkey denounces ‘new phase’ in genocide
US President Donald Trump gave Israel a “green light” to renew military operations against Hamas in Gaza, US media reported Tuesday, as the international community lamented the collapse of the hostage-ceasefire deal.
Trump made the decision after Hamas refused to release more hostages, an Israeli official was quoted as telling The Wall Street Journal.
Israel let the US know that it was resuming strikes on Gaza before carrying them out, the official added, echoing other reports that said the same.
At least 413 Palestinians were killed in the overnight strikes, including children, according to unverified figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. It said another 660 were wounded.
The IDF said Tuesday afternoon that it was hitting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets across the Gaza Strip. Targets hit included cells of terror operatives, rocket-launching positions, weapons, and other military infrastructure, the IDF and Shin Bet said in a joint statement. The weapons and infrastructure were to have been used by the terror groups in planned attacks on Israel, the military added.
Israel cited Hamas’s “repeated refusal” to release Israeli hostages as its reason for resuming strikes. The terror group has insisted on sticking to the original terms of the January 19 deal, which was supposed to enter its second phase at the beginning of this month.
That phase envisioned Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza and agreeing to permanently end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages. Though Israel signed on to the deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to negotiate its second phase, insisting that the war will not end until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been destroyed.
Nonetheless, the ceasefire remained in place for roughly two and a half weeks after the conclusion of the first phase, as mediators worked to broker new terms for its extension.
While the White House expressed support for the renewed military operation, the rest of the international community either condemned Israel or lamented the return to fighting.
Russia warned about a “spiral of escalation” in Gaza after the overnight airstrikes.
“The aggravation of the situation, another spiral of escalation, this is creating concern for us,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said her country “is highly concerned about the current situation between Israel and Palestine,” calling on the parties to “avoid any actions that could lead to an escalation of the situation, and prevent a larger-scale humanitarian disaster.”
Turkey said Israel’s strikes in Gaza amount to a “new phase in its policy of genocide” against Palestinians, and urged the international community to take a determined stance to ensure a ceasefire is upheld and humanitarian aid is delivered.
In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry declared it was unacceptable for Israel to cause a “new cycle of violence” in the region, adding the government’s “hostile approach” threatens the future of the Middle East.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also condemned Israel, calling the airstrikes a “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire.
The strikes constituted a “dangerous escalation which threatens to bring serious consequences for the stability of the region,” said the statement from Egypt, which brokered the Gaza ceasefire alongside Qatar and the US.
“There’s already been enormous suffering there, which is why we’re calling upon all parties to respect the ceasefire and hostage deal that was put in place,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.
“Australia will continue to stand up for peace and security in the region,” he added.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels vowed to escalate their own operations in support of their ally Hamas after threatening to renew attacks on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, which halted at the beginning of the ceasefire.
“We condemn the Zionist enemy’s resumption of aggression against the Gaza Strip,” the Houthis’ supreme political council said in a statement.
“The Palestinian people will not be left alone in this battle, and Yemen will continue its support and assistance, and escalate confrontation steps,” it added.
During the war, the Houthis directly targeted Israel with ballistic missiles and drones, killing one person and causing significant damage in several locations. Those attacks also stopped when the ceasefire began.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “shocked” by the renewal of airstrikes. In a statement, he called for humanitarian aid to resume for people in Gaza and for the hostages held by Hamas to be released unconditionally.
The United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for the West Bank and Gaza urged that the ceasefire in Gaza be immediately reinstated.
“Waves of airstrikes occurred across the Gaza strip since the early hours of the morning… This is unconscionable. A ceasefire must be reinstated immediately,” Muhannad Hadi said in a statement.
Much of Gaza now lies in ruins after 15 months of fighting, which erupted on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251 hostages into Gaza.
The Israeli campaign in response has killed more than 48,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and destroyed much of the housing and infrastructure in the enclave, including the hospital system. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
The Times of Israel Community.