NEW YORK, March 24. /TASS/. The Israeli authorities are planning a large-scale military ground offensive operation in the Gaza Strip, the US-based daily The Wall Street Journal reported citing its anonymous sources.
According to the daily’s sources, "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his new national-security team are planning a major ground offensive in Gaza in the belief that capturing and holding swaths of territory will allow them to finally defeat Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas."
"Netanyahu and a hawkish group of top aides appointed in recent months argue that Hamas must be beaten on the battlefield by force of arms before any political solution to the fate of Gaza can be advanced," according to the US daily.
"Netanyahu and his new team, including Defense Minister Israel Katz and top general Eyal Zamir, believe that last year’s military defeat of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the [US President Donald] Trump administration’s willingness to back a renewed offensive against Hamas give them more latitude to fight," the WSJ reported.
Tensions flared up in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children and the elderly.
Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis.
On March 18, the Israeli army resumed military operations in the Gaza Strip, launching massive strikes on the enclave breaking the ceasefire established in January. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained this by the fact that the radical Palestinian movement Hamas had rejected proposals put forward at the talks by mediators and the US President’s special envoy Steven Witkoff.
It also stated that the goal of the operation in the Gaza Strip is to free all hostages. The radicals blamed Israel and the US for the resumption of hostilities.
Qatar's Al Jazeera reported earlier in the day that at least 51 Palestinians have been killed over the past 24 hours as a result of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. According to the enclave's Health Ministry, the number of Palestinians killed in military operations across the Gaza Strip since October 2023 has exceeded 50,000.