Fires burn in Gaza as seen from Israel. ABC News/Reuters.
The cease fire between Israel and Hamas has fallen apart as Hamas refused to release remaining hostages. ABC News. In response, Israel launched massive airstrikes targeting Hamas all across Gaza. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the "gates of hell would be unleashed" against Gaza for not releasing the hostages left under Hamas control. Hamas had rejected all offers on a hostage deal and have done so since phase one of the cease fire ended on March 1st. One American citizen remains in Hamas custody. They are believed to have 24 total surviving hostages along with the bodies of 39 more.
My Comment:
This seems like a pretty obvious mistake by Hamas. Had they followed the terms of the original deal they would have seen an end of the war soon. Instead they are getting bombed again. And they have also angered the Trump Administration who had wanted this war to end.
I expect that there won't be any restrictions in terms of aid now from the Trump administration. Trump has shown to be frustrated with Hamas and has vowed to provide Israel whatever they need to end this war militarily. I don't think that will involve direct military support, but just about everything else is on the table.
I really don't understand why Hamas didn't agree to the peace deal. I guess maybe they didn't want to lose their last leverage with their hostages, but what good are hostages if they don't prevent air strikes? Even if the peace deal was doomed from the start, which I don't think it was, they would have bought themselves a few more months had they just kept releasing hostages.
So is the peace process dead? It's too early to tell. I am guessing that the lines of communication are still open, and if they approached the United States diplomatically, hat in hand, they probably could get a deal again. But I think that is what it would take. And I honestly don't get what Hamas is thinking here, to me none of this makes any sense.
What is clear is that it makes the context of what happened in Yemen this weekend into context. I was kind of confused as to why Trump ordered strikes against the Houthis, despite the increase of tensions. Now it makes sense. If the war in Gaza is back on than it stands to reason that the Red Sea war will be back on as well. It also explains the increased tensions between the United States and Iran...
Regardless, I do worry about the leadership of Hamas. Not only are they doing things that is pretty bad for the people of Gaza, they are also insulated from much of the damage going to be caused by the resumption of the war. Many of these leaders aren't even in Gaza and have little to fear if the entire state is destroyed.
As for Israel, I don't think they have a whole lot to lose from fighting, but they do have to consider that the world is changing rapidly in the region. Syria is a mess right now and Turkey is a large threat as well. Ending the war against Hamas might be in their best interest so they can rest, rearm and prepare against the threat to the north. Getting bogged down in Gaza again might be counterproductive.
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