Middle East: Israeli strikes kill hundreds in Gaza – DW (English)

March 18, 2025

Netanyahu resumed airstrikes on Gaza for political reasons, says father of hostage

Israel resumed strikes on Gaza for political reasons, according to Yehuda Cohen, the father of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier who is still being held hostage by Hamas militants.

“We already see (the far-right political party of Itamar) Ben-Gvir coming back to the coalition, coming back to Netanyahu,” Cohen told DW.

“This is the only reason Netanyahu did it. He doesn’t care for the hostages, he’s only caring for his personal survival, his coalition to survive.”

Cohen stressed that the release of all the hostages, including his son Nimrod, would only be made possible by implementing the second part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which he said Netanyahu “refused to do for political and personal reasons.”

Cohen also said that no one is giving the families of the hostages any information about the war or about the progress or lack of progress in the hostage deal.

“We know that our main way to influence the government is from outside. Meaning from other governments or other international organizations, including the ICC, including the UN, including main governments like the US, like Germany, Britain, France,” he said.

Cohen emphasized that the only way to force Netanyahu to make a hostage deal is to put him in a position where his political survival depends on a hostage deal. “That’s why we’re working from outside,” he added.

March 18, 2025

Netanyahu says strikes ‘just the beginning’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the wave of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that has killed at least 400 people in the territory.

In a video address, he said negotiations to restore the ceasefire would continue “only under fire” and that attacks were “just the beginning.”

Israel and the militant group Hamas reached an agreement in January for the first phase a broader ceasefire agreement to free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The first phase of the deal went through more or less as planned but it expired earlier this March.

Both Israel and Hamas have been unable to resolve differencesover subsequent phases of the ceasefire agreement ever since.

Hamas has refused Israeli demands to change the ceasefire agreement since the first phase of the truce ended.

Netanyahu said in his statement that Hamas rejected a plan proposed by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

“In the past two weeks, Israel did not initiate any military action in the hope that Hamas would change course. Well, that didn’t happen,” he said. 

“While Israel accepted the offer of President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Hamas flatly refused to do so. 

“This is why I authorized yesterday the renewal of military action against Hamas.”

March 18, 2025

Israeli foreign minister: ‘This is not a one-day attack’

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that fresh strikes on Gaza were not “a one-day attack.”

“We found ourselves at an impasse — no hostage being released and no military action … We struck Hamas and additional terror targets in Gaza,” Saar told the board of directors of the US pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, according to a statement. 

“This is not a one-day attack. We will continue the military operation in the coming days.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Saar said Israel resumed military operations in Gaza during what was supposerd to be a ceasefire because it had “no alternative.”

“Without the release of our hostages, Israel has no alternative but resuming military operations,” he posted on social media.

March 18, 2025

German FM Baerbock decries ‘end of the ceasefire in Gaza’

German Foreign Annalena Baerbock said it was a matter of “great concern” that the ceasefire in Gaza had come to an end because of renewed overnight Israeli airstrikes that killed hundreds in the territory.

“The end of the ceasefire in Gaza due to heavy Israeli attacks is cause for great concern,” Baerbock said in Berlin.

“The images of burning tents in refugee camps are shocking. Fleeing children and internally displaced persons must never be used as leverage in negotiations,” she said.

Baerbock said that “international law includes the principle of proportionality even in self-defense.”

“With the resumption of fighting, the fate of the remaining hostages but also the future of the people in Israel, Gaza and the entire Middle East now again hangs on an extremely thin silk thread,” she added.

Baerbock said she was appealing particularly to “the USA to use its regional influence.” She is set to visit Lebanon on Wednesday.

March 18, 2025

Gaza residents describe ‘uncontrollable’ fear after Israeli strikes

Palestinians said they are shocked and afraid after Israel launched deadly trikes on Gaza during what was supposed to be a ceasefire.

In the early hours of the morning, Amira Maher, a math teacher and mother of three, said her family was violently woken by the airstrikes.

“Around 2 a.m. we suddenly started hearing airstrikes everywhere and the house shook uncontrollably. This happened while people were sleeping,” the 37-year-old told DW by text message from Gaza City. “My children woke up shocked. Their faces turned yellow from fear. Really, they almost died of fear.”

Maher said the children had looked forward to Eid al Fitr in late March, the end of the holy month of Ramadan. “My heart broke, they were thinking of Eid, new clothes, and now the war has resumed. Our fear is uncontrollable. No one understands anything and the sound [of bombing] is terrible.”

The night and the resumption of massive Israeli airstrikes were also terrifying for Salah Saleh, who lives with his six children in Gaza City. “The last thing we ever wanted was to return to war, to fear and terror. We were searching for our souls again during the truce, looking for a way to restore our lives to some semblance of normalcy. Now it has all gone down the drain again,” Salah told DW by phone.

He said everyone hoped that this would end soon and that a lasting ceasefire would be reached. “There is no fire except from one side. There is bombing and killing, and we already live in fear and terror every day because of hunger, and now the bombing has been added to it,” he said.

According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 400 Palestinians were killed and at least 560 others were injured since last night. Several people were still trapped under the rubble, emergency services said. Hamas announced the death of six senior officials.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said on Tuesday afternoon that it was continuing its strikes throughout the Gaza Strip. They claimed to have struck launch posts, weapon stockpiles and cells belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and “additional military infrastructure used by these terror organizations to plan and execute attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers.”

March 18, 2025

Katz: Israel ‘will not stop fighting’ until hostages are returned

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Israel “will not stop fighting as long as the hostages are not returned home and all our war aims are not achieved.”

The remarks came hours after its forces unleashed its most intense strikes on Gaza since a January ceasefire came into effect.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office said the resumption of hostilities was ordered as a result of “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”

A statement promised that “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.”

In a statement of their own, the Palestinian militant group Hamas said that the fresh strikes, which have killed over 400 people, represent a “death sentence” for the remaining Israeli hostages they still hold in Gaza.

“Netanyahu’s decision to resume war is a decision to sacrifice the occupation’s prisoners,” they said, referring to Israel, which Hamas considers an occupying power.

A Hamas official said the group was “working with mediators” to stop the bombardment while blaming what he described as “unlimited” US support for Israel for the deadly strikes.

March 18, 2025

Russia and Iran weigh in on Gaza bombings

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is “monitoring the situation very closely.”

“Undoubtedly, it’s another deterioration in the situation and another spiral of escalation that is causing concern,” he added.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Ismail Baghai, called out Israel’s attacks and their American support.

He condemned the bombings “against the defenseless population of Gaza … in parallel with the ongoing blockade of food and medicine” and “with the green light from the United States of America.”

March 18, 2025

Hamas names senior figures killed in Israeli strikes

The Palestinian militant group Hamas has confirmed the identities of several senior political and military figures killed in the massive Israeli airstrikes overnight.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described the assault as a “preemptive offensive” targeting “mid-ranking military commanders, leadership officials and terrorist infrastructure” with the goal of negating Hamas’ ability to attack Israel and to rebuild its forces.

On Tuesday, Hamas said at least four senior officials had been killed in their homes, including the de facto head of the Hamas government, Essam Addalees; Deputy Justice Minister Ahmed Al-Hetta; Deputy Interior Minister Mahmoud Abu Watfa; and the director of the domestic security agency, Major General Bahgat Abu Sultan.

Two police officers were also killed, according to the group.

March 18, 2025

Arab states condemn Israel’s renewed strikes on Gaza

Several nations in the Middle East have spoken out in condemnation of Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry called the assault a “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire, which it helped broker just two months ago.

The ministry called it a “dangerous escalation which threatens to bring serious consequences for the stability of the region.”

Qatar, which also helped broker the ceasefire, warned that Israel’s “escalating policies will ultimately ignite the region and undermine its security and stability.”

Jordan echoed these sentiments, referring to the “aggressive and barbaric bombing of the Gaza Strip” and emphasized the need to “stop this aggression.”

Similarly, Saudi Arabia expressed “condemnation and denunciation in the strongest terms of the Israeli occupation forces’ resumption of aggression.”

March 18, 2025

Ben-Gvir’s far-right party returns to government

The Israeli far-right Otzma Yehudit party and its extremist leader, Itamar Ben-Gvir, are set to rejoin the coalition government alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party.

Former National Security Minister Ben-Gvir withdrew Otzma Yehudit (which means “Jewish Power”) from the government in January to protest Israel’s agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas.

On Tuesday, following Israeli airstrikes that have killed more than 400 people in the Gaza Strip, the party announced its return to government.

“Likud and Otzma Yehudit have agreed that the Otzma Yehudit faction will return to the Israeli government today, and the ministers of Otzma Yehudit will return to the government,” read a joint statement from the parties.

The move will be welcome news to Netanyahu, who is reliant on Ben-Gvir’s support to pass the budget through the Knesset and ward off automatic new elections.

Ben-Gvir, a hard-liner who himself lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, has called for a resumption of military action against Hamas and for Israeli settlements to be extended to the Gaza Strip.

March 18, 2025

Israeli hostage families split on military action

The families of the remaining Israeli hostages still being held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip are split on the best approach to bringing their loved ones home.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum called on supporters to gather in Jerusalem to protest Israel’s renewed bombing of Gaza, which the group believes complicates negotiations and endangers their relatives.

“Following the decision to resume military operations, which places 59 hostages at grave risk, their families are now making their way to Jerusalem and calling on the people of Israel to stand with them,” the group said in a message on WhatsApp.

“There is nothing more urgent than this! With each passing day, the danger to the hostages grows. Military pressure could further endanger their lives and complicate efforts to bring them home safely.”

Another group, however, the Tikva Forum of Hostages’ Families, welcomed the renewed fighting and expressed its support for the Israeli government’s approach.

“The past weeks have proven what we have been saying all along – Hamas will never return all the hostages willingly,” the group said in a statement titled “All or Hell.”

“Only massive military pressure, a complete blockade including cutting off electricity and water, and occupation of territories that will lead to Hamas’ collapse, will cause them to beg for a ceasefire and a deal that will return ALL the hostages together, in one stage.”

The group argued that, should strikes continue “with intensity and without interruption,” all hostages would return home “in one bus.”

Israeli authorities say 59 hostages are still being held in Gaza, with up to 24 believed to be alive.

March 18, 2025

Gaza death toll passes 400

The death toll from the fresh Israeli airstrikes on Gaza has risen to at least 413, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

“So far, 413 martyrs have arrived in hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said in a statement read. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and work is underway to recover them.”

Israel has criticized figures provided by Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, but international institutions including the United Nations consider them broadly reliable.

March 18, 2025

Turkey, Russia slam Israeli strikes

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the “massacre” of hundreds of Palestinians by Israel in a fresh wave of airstrikes “demonstrates that the Netanyahu government’s genocide policy has entered a new phase.”

Turkey, which has often criticized Israel over its war in Gaza, urged the international community to “take a decisive stance,” saying:

“At a time when efforts to achieve global peace and stability are intensifying, the aggression displayed by the Israeli government threatens the future of the region,” it said. 

The ministry added that Israel “defies humanity … in the gravest way.”

Meanwhile in Russia, the Kremlin also expressed concern about the civilian death toll from Tuesday’s airstrikes, which it said represent “another deterioration in the situation [in Gaza] and another spiral of escalation.”

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was “monitoring the situation very closely” and “waiting for it to return to a peaceful course.”

March 18, 2025

UN condemnations over airstrikes continue

Philip Lazzarini, the commissioner of UNRWA, is the latest UN official to condemn Israel’s overnight airstrikes.

“Fueling ‘hell on earth’ by resuming the war will only bring more despair and suffering,” he said in a post on X.

“A return to the ceasefire is a must,” he added.

In January, Israel banned UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil.

March 18, 2025

UN official says Israeli strikes are ‘unconscionable’

Muhannad Hadi, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, has spoken out against Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza.

“A ceasefire must be reinstated immediately,” Hadi said. “People in Gaza have endured unimaginable suffering.”

He urged “an end to hostilities” and said “a ceasefire must be reinstated immediately.”

The coordinator is tasked with working with both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority as well as NGOs to oversee policy implementation in the region.