For two months, Gazans had some respite from the Israeli bombs that have reduced the strip to a wasteland, and began to pick up the pieces of their devastated lives. The families of the remaining hostages held by Hamas militants inside the enclave also clung to hope of seeing their relatives released from their hellish captivity, as a fragile ceasefire held between the Palestinian militants and Israel.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shattered any illusions that peace was finally coming after 17 months of brutal conflict. On Tuesday, he ordered the military to resume bombing Gaza. Its strikes killed more than 400 people, according to Palestinian officials, making it one of the deadliest days of Israel’s war in Gaza as the full death toll nears 50,000.
Netanyahu blamed Hamas, saying the strikes were launched because the militant group refused to release the hostages. Yet it is Israel that sought to change the terms of the deal. There was no justification for Netanyahu’s decision to resume the onslaught and jeopardise the lives of the remaining hostages. The ceasefire must urgently be restored, and the warring parties pressured into compromises that end the killing and secure the 59 hostages’ release before it is too late for those still alive.
Yet US President Donald Trump, the one world leader with significant leverage over Israel, has emboldened Netanyahu. Trump’s team helped broker the multiphase ceasefire agreement sealed in January and quickly took credit. Since then, however, the US president has unveiled a dangerous plan to empty Gaza of Palestinians and issued bellicose threats against Hamas in tandem with Netanyahu. When Israel halted the delivery of all aid into Gaza and cut the last power line this month to pressure Hamas to accept a revised version of the ceasefire, the Trump administration was silent. When Israel relaunched its offensive on Gaza, the White House backed the assault and joined Israel in blaming Hamas.
The militant group bears huge responsibility for the destruction in Gaza. Hamas triggered the war with its horrific October 7 2023 attack, killing 1,200 people and seizing 250 hostages. It pays scant regard to the fate of 2.2mn Palestinians trapped inside the strip, more concerned about its own survival.
But Hamas — which fired rockets at Israel on Thursday for the first time in several months — was complying with the ceasefire, freeing 38 hostages in the first phase in return for Israel releasing more than 1,500 prisoners. The second stage, due to have begun at the start of this month, was always going to be the sternest test. The parties were supposed to agree to a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, in return for the release of the remaining hostages.
Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected ending the war or pulling out his forces as he pursues maximalist goals. He never seriously engaged in talks for the second stage. Instead, with US backing, Israel demanded that Hamas release half the remaining hostages in one batch, rather than sequenced as agreed, in return for an extension of the truce. Hamas predictably rejected the proposal.
Rather than work with the mediators, Netanyahu, facing domestic pressure and scrutiny over scandals, unleashed his military. There is a reason his critics accuse him of putting his interests above those of the nation.
Bombs and more bloodshed only put the hostages’ lives in peril, and will not hasten their release. That is what the ceasefire deal could have achieved. In the words of hostage families, Netanyahu should be fighting in the negotiating room, not driving Israel towards endless war. If Trump is serious about his campaign pledge to bring peace to the Middle East, he should begin by using his considerable influence to halt the carnage in Gaza.