by AUSTIN DENEAN | The National News Desk
Mon, March 24th 2025 at 11:18 AM
Smoke rises to the sky after an explosion in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
WASHINGTON (TNND) — Israel’s expanded offensive in Gaza continued over the weekend as it tries to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages or return to negotiations on a stalled ceasefire deal on the verge of collapse in discussions that have been stalled for weeks.
After the collapse of the fragile ceasefire last week with airstrikes, Israel expanded its offensive on Sunday by taking control of more territory and giving civilians new evacuation orders in a ramp-up of its pressure campaign. Israel says the growing campaign is targeting Hamas targets and infrastructure, including leadership figures, and has blamed civilian casualties on the militant group for operating in densely populated areas.
Israel has ramped up its military activity since last week in a move to pressure Hamas to return to the negotiating table and release the remaining 59 hostages, only 24 of which are believed to be alive.
Prior to Israel’s initial launch of airstrikes last week, the two sides had been operating under the first phase of a ceasefire deal reached in January that saw the release of some Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Hundreds of Palestinians were also allowed to return to their homes as the fighting slowed and a surge of humanitarian aid was allowed to enter the area.
Getting to the second phase of the initial ceasefire deal was always expected to be a much heavier lift for negotiators with nonnegotiable demands from each side that are nonstarters to the other. Talks for a second phase, which would have released the remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting end to the fighting and the withdrawal of Israeli troops, sputtered out before getting started.
The Associated Press reported Monday that Egypt had introduced a new proposal to get talks back on track that would see Hamas release a handful of living hostages in exchange for humanitarian aid returning to Gaza and a pause in fighting lasting several weeks.
But the willingness for either side to return to peace talks remains uncertain as Israel continues to carry out strikes.
“The only thing that brings back the ceasefire is Hamas relents and at least releases some of the hostages they still have in their possession or Trump, through (Middle East Envoy Steve) Witkoff, puts enough pressure on Netanyahu,” said Javed Ali, a former counterterrorism official in federal government and associate professor of practice at the University of Michigan. “Outside of those two things, there’s no other player in the region that has enough influence to drive both sides back to the table.”
Hamas has maintained its position that any agreement to free more hostages would require a permanent end to the war, a position Israel’s government has not been receptive to as it continues its push to ensure Hamas does not retain any military capabilities or control of the government in Gaza when the war reaches a conclusion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also facing pressure with conflicting goals from his governing coalition and the public. Public polling in Israel has found its people want the ceasefire to continue to secure the release of the hostages, while parts of the Israeli government want to continue to assault to further deteriorate Hamas’ capabilities and keep the militant group from rebuilding
Hamas has not yet responded militarily to Israel’s expanded offensive, but it remains uncertain whether the group will return to negotiations after suffering tremendous losses in its fighting capabilities and its leadership structure. Israel has eliminated many of its leadership figures and their replacements, including five senior officials in strikes since the renewed offensive started.
“The most likely thing that’s going to play out over the next couple weeks is resumption of a full spectrum operations on the Israeli side, and it’s a question of how much damage can they inflict on Hamas before Hamas relents,” Ali said.
The White House has said it was consulted before Israel renewed its offensive and had signed off on it. Trump has been an ardent supporter of Israel and vowed of a stiff price to pay for Hamas if it did not release the hostages before coming into office.
“We have unleashed and given Israel all the weapons that they need to continue this fight. We’re aligned,” Morgan Ortagus, deputy special envoy to the Middle East, told Fox News on Sunday. “We’re going to stand by them whether it’s destroying Hamas or destroying Hezbollah or the Houthis.”