After strikes on Gaza, Israelis take to the streets

The conflict between Israel and Hamas in South Lebanon stalled with a ground invasion in mid-Kushushush-Saltinsky regime

The Israeli officials said that if that’s the case Israel could possibly capture and take over large parts of the territory. That is a strategy Israel avoided during earlier phases of the war.

The military also aims to kill senior Hamas administrators who were not previously viewed as high-priority targets, the officials said, in a bid to signal to Hamas that Israel will not allow the group to retain control of Gaza. Hamas’s government media office announced that four of the most senior civilian administrators and security chiefs in the territory were killed in the Israeli strikes.

By making missile strikes instead of immediately beginning such a ground operation, Israel was seeking “to push Hamas to show more flexibility,” said Michael Milstein, an Israeli analyst of Palestinian affairs and a former senior officer in Israeli military intelligence. “The big question,” he said, “is how Hamas will respond.”

The talks stalled because Hamas refused to release significant numbers of hostages unless Israel promised to permanently end the war — a commitment Israel would not make unless Hamas agreed to give up power in Gaza.

There were Israeli air assaults on Gaza early Tuesday, but a ground invasion was not imminent. But they could develop into a full ground operation if Hamas refuses to give up control of Gaza, according to two Israeli military officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak more freely.

The Israeli War on the Gaza Strip During the First Two Days of the War: Israel’s Prime Minister and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Capitol Building

The Israeli prime minister has been reaping domestic rewards from the strikes. Hours after they began, a far-right party rejoined Mr. Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, bolstering the government’s fragile majority in Parliament, weeks after it left the alliance to protest the initial truce.

“Personally I don’t think it’s likely Hamas will be ready to give up their red lines,” Mr. Milstein said. In a few days, we will be in a limited war of attrition, ongoing airstrikes but no readiness from Hamas to give up.

Israelis were gathering on Wednesday outside the Parliament building in Jerusalem to protest moves by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they say undermine the country’s democracy and to call for a renewed cease-fire deal for Gaza to bring the remaining hostages there home.

There was a convergence of popular anger over both domestic and national security issues, after Israel carried out deadly aerial attacks on the Gaza Strip early Tuesday.

There was a sense of national solidarity surrounding the war in Gaza, set off on October 7, 2020, but now appears to be unraveling.

Netanyahu has a deadline: his government must pass a national budget in two weeks, or face the prospect of his government collapsing, triggering new elections.

During the morning hours, protesters closed down the main highway into Jerusalem in an act similar to the social and political upheavals that swept the country in the months preceding the war over the powers of the judiciary.

Protests were called for after Mr. Netanyahu said he was moving to dismiss the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.

That has raised public concerns about the government’s renewed push to reduce the power of state watchdogs and make appointments that critics say are based on loyalty.

“Take it to the streets!” Israel’s Yair Lapid told a Gazan protester after the Israeli-Israel War: “We will not stop at red”

The centrist leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, Yair Lapid, called on people to join the protests in a social media post on Wednesday morning.

He wrote that the government wouldn’t stop at red. unity, not silent, submissive, or fake unity, is the only solution, and it is the unity of the entire nation coming together and saying: Enough! He said, “This is our moment, our future, our country.” Take to the streets!”

Mr. Netanyahu said that the surprise attack on Gaza on Tuesday was the opening salvo in a campaign to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages after weeks of fruitless negotiations via mediators.

The new offensive in Gaza also allowed Netanyahu to distract from an unprecedented move: his announcement this week that he wishes to fire his domestic security chief from the Shin Bet agency, a move that sparked street protests, with more underway on Wednesday.

Netanyahu was able to bring his ally Itamar Ben Gvira back into the coalition after he returned to war. Ben Gvir had quit because of the January ceasefire with Hamas, and returned Tuesday with the resumption of the war.

It is virtually the same proposal that had been on the table before the return to war, except for the demand to remove Israeli troops from the border area.

Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff presented a proposal last week for new ceasefire terms — releasing more hostages before beginning end-of-war talks — and Israel says it is returning to war to pressure Hamas to agree to those terms.

Amos Harel wrote that Israel violated the cease-fire agreement with Hamas because it didn’t want to fully meet the terms it had committed to.

The terms of the deal were not officially published. The deal was sealed under the auspices of the Biden administration in the waning days of their time in office. Israel saw itself as having leeway to try to extract new terms under President Trump.

All the while, Hamas continued to recover. Israel had allowed in a surge of aid supplies. Hamas government leaders in Gaza began emerging from tunnels and hideouts, deploying officials and displaying their control of the territory.

The post that was removed from the Facebook page was about taxes for Gaza residents, who had been ravaged in the previous war.

Hamas was trying to retrofit unexploded Israeli ordinance from the war for its own weapons stockpiles, according to Tamir Heyman, the head of Israel’s leading national security think tank, the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies.

Israel began a supplies blockade on Gaza to force Hamas to accept its terms. The core demands of the Hamas were not changed, except for removing Israeli troops from the Gaza-Egypt border andstarting talks on the end of the war.

After weeks of planning, the Israeli military launched about ten minutes of strikes from naval ships and dozens of warplanes at 2:10 a.m. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss what was happening behind the scenes.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Mediators were holding ceasefire talks with Hamas in the wee hours of the morning Tuesday when the surprise Israeli strikes began, according to a senior Hamas official.

Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen disrupted international shipping routes and fired missiles at Israel throughout the first 15 months of the Gaza war. The Israeli military said it had shot down a missile that was fired from Yemen towards Israel.

Netanyahu’s battles with the Houthis: a tale of four battles and two victories in a new era of power

Harel said Netanyahu’s true objective appears “increasingly clear”, which is a gradual slide toward an authoritarian-style regime that he will try to secure through a series of battles.

“The gates of hell have opened? For me the gates of hell have opened today,” Ruhama Buhbut told Israeli Channel 12. There is still a hostage in Gaza.

Analysts say that Netanyahu will have a stronger position in power after the budget is passed, as the strikes will last at least another two weeks.

The United States struck targets in Yemen last weekend and fighter jets impeded a reprisal from the Houthis. President Trump warned Iran, a backer of the Houthis, of “dire consequences” if Houthi attacks do not stop.