BEIJING, March 18. /TASS/. Israel’s renewed bombardments of the Gaza Strip may be part of a larger strategy by Tel Aviv and Washington to resettle its residents, Han Jianwei of the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), told TASS.

"I think that the key objective of Israel’s unilateral strikes on the Gaza Strip and the ceasefire agreement breach is to exert pressure on Hamas and Gaza’s population. This may be part of a plan by the Trump administration and Israel to force Gaza’s residents to flee their homes. This is a serious blow to the previous ceasefire agreement as Gaza will again become a high-risk zone and many of the Gazans will have to look at leaving it after all," the expert said.

In mid-January, Israel and Hamas reached an Egypt-, Qatar-, and US-brokered three-stage agreement to release the hostages held in Gaza and declare a ceasefire in the enclave. The three-phase deal took effect on January 19. The initial 42-day phase of the ceasefire ended on March 1 but on the following day, Israel closed all crossing points to the enclave and blocked all humanitarian deliveries there.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on March 18 that a series of strikes had been delivered on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Barak Ravid, a reporter for the US news website Axios, wrote on the X social media platform, citing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, that Israel had resumed military operations against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave. According to the latest data provided by the Al Arabiya TV channel, the death toll has exceeded 400, while more than 1,000 people have been injured.

At a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in early February, US President Donald Trump announced plans for the US to reclaim the Gaza Strip and transform it into the "Riviera of the Middle East." Trump also expressed support for the idea of relocating Palestinians from the enclave to other countries in the region and indicated that the US was prepared to send troops to the Gaza Strip.