Military pressure will bring hostages back from Gaza, says Israeli official
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Palestinians inspecting a destroyed building following an Israeli air strike on Gaza City on March 22.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
JERUSALEM – Israel will keep striking Hamas targets in Gaza to ensure the return of hostages, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 22, as European countries called for a ceasefire and access for aid supplies.
Mr Ophir Falk, Mr Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, said military pressure pushed Hamas to accept the first truce in November 2023, in which some 80 hostages were returned. He said this was also the surest way to force the release of the remaining 59 hostages.
“The only reason they went back to the negotiating table was military pressure, and that’s what we’re doing right now,” he told reporters.
After weeks of relative calm in Gaza following a ceasefire deal reached in January, attempts to agree to an extension of the halt in fighting stalled and Israel resumed its air strikes and deployed ground troops
Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardaweel and his wife were killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza on March 23, officials of the militant group said.
Mr Falk declined to give details of negotiations to restore the ceasefire. But he said Israel had accepted proposals from US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff for an extended truce until after Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday next month. “I can’t get into the details of the negotiations. What I can say is that we’re going to achieve all our war objectives.”
Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement by refusing to begin negotiations for a final end to the war and a withdrawal of its troops from Gaza but has said it is still willing to negotiate and was studying Mr Witkoff’s “bridging” proposals.
The Palestinian health authorities said hundreds have been killed in the strikes, with at least 130 killed and 263 wounded in the last 48 hours.
Explosions echoed throughout the north, central and southern Gaza Strip early on March 23 as Israeli planes hit several targets in those areas in what witnesses said was an escalation of the attack that began on March 18.
At least 30 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis so far on March 23, the health authorities said. Those killed included three municipal employees, medics said.
The return to the air strikes and ground operations that have devastated Gaza has drawn calls for a ceasefire from Arab and European countries
Israel has blocked the entry of goods into Gaza and Mr Falk accused Hamas of taking aid for its own use, a charge the Palestinian militant group has previously denied.
“We stopped the supply going in because Hamas was stealing it for its own use,” he said.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza
The Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and devastated much of the coastal enclave, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in tents and makeshift shelters. REUTERS
