Israel is trying to pressure Hamas to free more hostages

Over the past three days, Israeli forces bombed targets throughout Gaza, saying they were attacking Hamas sites and agents. The Israeli land forces seized a major corridor in the center of Gaza that they withdrew from under the ceasefire, and they sought the land operations in the north and south of Gaza.

Hamas has confirmed the death of five senior officials in the Gaza Command since the start of the attack. The Israeli army says it killed others. On Friday, she said in a statement that she had killed Osama Tabash, a leader in the military intelligence branch in Hamas, in an air strike the day before.

On Friday, the Israeli army bombed the Turkish -Palestinian Friendship Hospital in central Gaza, saying that it hit gunmen working there. The Israeli army said that the building is no longer used as a medical center. Israeli soldiers used the hospital for several months as a base last year before withdrawing.

Hamas’s military response to renewed Israeli attacks has been limited so far. The group’s military capabilities have been dramatically deteriorating due to the war, although it is still believed to be asking tens of thousands of armed fighters. Israeli officials say Hamas was using the ceasefire to reassemble its ranks, and plans to fight in the future and to plant explosive devices.

On Thursday, Hamas fired three missiles in Israel for the first time in months, but all of them were intercepted or fell without causing losses, and they are far from the weeds that can be mobilized in the first months of the war.

Israel hopes to force Hamas to liberate more remaining hostages on October 7, 2023, the attack that sparked the war in Gaza. Up to 24 neighborhood prisoners – and more than 30 others – are still in Gaza, according to the Israeli government.

Even before the ceasefire collapsed this week, Israel prevented humanitarian aid to Gaza, and prevented food and medicine shipments from reaching the Palestinians who are still recovering from more than a year of hunger and depriving the time of war.

The Israeli army still has many options to escalate the new attack more. In the latest operations, the Israeli forces have not yet swept the Palestinian cities in Gaza, and they divided the pocket in northern Gaza, north of Gaza, as they did during a 15 -month campaign against Hamas.

Israel pledged not to end the war in Gaza without destroying Hamas. Hamas said she is ready to hand over civil responsibilities in the pocket, but she refused to dissolve armed fighters brochures or send their leaders to exile.

Diplomats, including from the United States, hope to mediate in a partial deal at least to restore both sides to a ceasefire, liberate more hostages and allow humanitarian assistance to start flowing to Gaza again.