Israel threatens to seize more of Gaza if Hamas keeps refusing to free hostages, defence minister says

Israel will take more territory in Gaza and fight until Hamas is wiped out if the Palestinian militant group keeps refusing to free remaining hostages, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday.

He spoke as mediators continued efforts to salvage Gaza’s ceasefire deal shattered by Israel’s renewal of air and ground war on March 18 after it and Hamas failed to agree on terms for an extension of the two-month-old truce.

Israel has said it will never again accept Hamas governance and military power in Gaza following the militants’ October 7, 2023 cross-border attack that led to the Gaza war.

The Israeli military said last week that its forces had begun a focused ground operation in the central and southern Gaza Strip after it resumed bombardments in the besieged enclave that have killed hundreds of Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objective of the new campaign is to force the Islamist militants to release remaining hostages.

“If Hamas continues with its intransigence, it will pay heavy prices that get higher and higher in the taking of territory (by Israel) and in taking out militants and terror infrastructure until its complete surrender,” Katz said in a video reported by Israeli media.

The latest offensive has been among the deadliest since the conflict began 17 months ago, splintering a shaky ceasefire that had largely prevailed since it went into effect on January 19.

Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, with 24 thought to be still alive, among the more than 250 it seized in its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Most of the rest have been freed, or their bodies handed over, in negotiated exchanges.

Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed over 50,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Meanwhile, Israel’s parliament gave final approval to the long delayed 2025 state budget on Tuesday, in a turbulent session that showed how lawmakers and the country remain divided over the fate of hostages still held in Gaza and the wider political landscape.

Parliament, known as the Knesset, passed the budget by a 66-52 margin. Failure to have approved the budget by March 31 would have triggered snap elections.

“This is a budget of war, and with God’s help it will be a budget of victory,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said moments before voting on the budget began.

The debate took place in a stormy session of the Knesset, where families of some of the hostages entered the main plenum and held up posters and photos of their loved ones. They were joined by opposition lawmakers who also held up signs with “59”, the number of hostages still in Gaza since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Ahead of the vote, protesters outside tried to block parliament members from entering the building. “There is freedom of expression in the State of Israel, but no one is free to forcibly block the democratic process in the Knesset,” said Amir Ohana, the Knesset’s speaker.

Israel’s military resumed its campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza last week, shattering a two-month ceasefire. On Tuesday, the army told residents in all northern border towns in Gaza to evacuate, saying Palestinian rockets had been fired at Israel from the area.

The return to fighting has led to mass protests in Israel demanding a return to negotiations to bring back the remaining hostages and bodies.