Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would annex parts of the Gaza Strip unless Hamas released the remaining Israeli hostages held in the Palestinian enclave. The statement came amid intensifying Israeli military strikes in Gaza that started on Tuesday.
“I ordered the IDF to seize more territory in Gaza,” Katz said in a statement. “The more Hamas sticks to its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it would lose, territory which would be annexed to Israel.”
The Israeli military continued its attacks on Gaza on Friday, having effectively ended a two-month ceasefire earlier this week.
Health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that 504 people had been killed since the war resumed.
During terror attacks on October 7, 2023, Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 more hostage — 59 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups. Israeli authorities believe 24 of them are still alive.
‘Catastrophic’ conditions in Gaza
Dr. Mohammed Mustafa, an Australian doctor working in Gaza, told DW that medical conditions in the enclave are “catastrophic” as the fighting resumed.
“We have little to no medicine. We have little to no antibiotics left,” he said. “We are really lacking in resources, medical equipment and even basic things like blood pressure cuffs, monitoring people’s oxygen levels and even oxygen cylinders.”
Mustafa added that the current shortage in fuel in Gaza means medical teams are struggling with transporting patients from one hospital to another, where they could be looked after, with some patients succumbing to their wounds as a result.
Former hostages call for end to Israeli military operation
Forty survivors of Hamas captivity and 250 family members of hostages signed a letter calling on Netanyahu’s government to halt Israel’s military operations and return to negotiations with Hamas to secure the release of the remaining 59 hostages.
“This letter was written in blood and tears. It was drafted by our friends and families whose loved ones were killed and murdered in captivity and who are crying out: ‘Stop the fighting. Return to the negotiating table and fully complete an agreement that will return all of the hostages, even at the cost of ending the war,” the letter said, adding that military pressure endangered the remaining hostages’ lives.
“The Israeli government is choosing an endless war over rescuing and returning hostages, thereby sacrificing them to their deaths. This policy is criminal. You have no mandate to sacrifice 59 hostages,” the letter said.
Gaza: Palestinians forced to move as Israeli strikes resume
Germany, France, UK urge return to ceasefire
On Friday evening, Germany, France and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement calling for the “immediate return to a ceasefire.”
The foreign ministers of the three European nations — known as the E3 — said they “are appalled by the civilian casualties”, calling this week’s resumption of Israeli airstrikes “a dramatic step backward for the people of Gaza, the hostages, their families and the entire region.”
“We call on Israel to restore humanitarian access, including water and electricity, and ensure access to medical care and temporary medical evacuations in accordance with international humanitarian law,” the statement said.
The ministers also urged Hamas to free the hostages “that they have cruelly detained and persistently refuse to release.”
The statement added that the conflict would not be resolved militarily, insisting that a long-lasting ceasefire is the only way to secure a sustainable peace.
The E3 foreign ministers also said they were “deeply shocked” by Wednesday’s incident at a United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) building in Gaza in which one UN worker died and several others were injured, and called for a full investigation.
Hamas ‘reviewing’ US ceasefire offer
After ordering the resumption of fighting in Gaza earlier this week, Netanyahu said talks for the next stage of a ceasefire would be held under fire.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, the European Union and others, said it was reviewing an offer made by the US to restore the ceasefire with Israel.
The most recent offer by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, labeled a “bridge” plan, aims to extend the ceasefire into April. That would take it beyond the holidays of Ramadan and Passover and allow more time to negotiate a permanent ceasefire between the two sides.
According to a Reuters news agency report, citing a Palestinian official, Egypt also made a bridging proposal, with Hamas not yet responding to it.
Israel wants to extend the first phase of a ceasefire, as would happen under the bridge plan, Hamas, however, has insisted on sticking to the terms of the deal signed by Netanyahu in January, which had required the sides to hold talks on phase two in early February. Israel largely refused to do so.
Phase two of the deal agreed in January calls for the release of all remaining living hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Netanyahu has said Israel will not leave Gaza until Hamas cannot return to power in the region.
Edited by: Sean Sinico and Alex Berry