The Israeli army has launched a new operation in the Gaza To put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages, the Minister of Defense said on Saturday.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Operation Gideon Chariots had started and was led with “great strength” by the Israeli army.
“The heroism of the TSAhal soldiers, the unity of the people and the determination of the political level increase the chances of the return of the hostages-as it was then and as it is now,” he said.
Jack Guez / AFP via Getty Images
The operation follows intensive strike days through the territory that killed hundreds of people.
The TSAhal spokesperson, Colonel Avichai Adraee, in a recorded declaration on video band of the Gaza band, said that the troops “relaxed and increased bombing and pressure on Hamas throughout the band-from north to south, above and even outside the band.”
The army said it would not stop until the hostages returned and Hamas has dismantled.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised Earlier in the week to increase the pressure on Hamas In order to destroy the militant group that has governed Gaza for almost two decades.
More than 150 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health managed by Hamas. He said more than 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a ceasefire in January on March 18.
The humanitarian crisis continues
The operation also occurs when President Trump concluded his trip to Middle East without visit to Israel.
There was hope that Mr. Trump’s visit to the region could increase the chances of a cease-fire contract or the resumption of humanitarian aid in Gaza, which Israel has prevented for almost three months.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Netanyahu by phone on Saturday from Rome. They discussed the current war in Gaza and their joint efforts to guarantee the release of all the remaining hostages, said spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
Trump echoes a warning call on Friday, that people starve the besieged Palestinian territory.
“We are looking at Gaza. And we are going to take care of it. Many people are hungry,” the president told journalists.
Israel has imposed a blockade for more than two months in Gaza, leading the United Nations agencies and other humanitarian groups to warn to quickly reduce fuel, food and medicine supplies in the Palestinian territory which, before the war, housed around 2.4 million people.
Food security experts say Gaza will be in famine if the blockade is not lifted.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP 
The Israeli government has repeatedly denied that Gaza faced famine and said the blockade was to force Hamas to release the remaining hostages taken in the October 7 attack.
According to the World Food Program, there are at least 14,000 children in Gaza who are poorly fed.
One of these children is Najwa Hajaj, who had to be released from a hospital because he no longer has food and medicine. Her mother says that the 6 -year -old girl weighs only 13 pounds, which is the average weight of a 3 month old baby.
“She is dying in my hands and I can’t do anything,” her father, Hussain Hajaj told CBS News. “I can barely feed her, I don’t know what to do.”
Interviews in progress in Doha
Meanwhile, the negotiations of Qatari and Egyptian to negotiate a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas are underway in Doha. After talks between Qatar and Mr. Trump last week, there is a renewed push of mediators of the United States and Qatar to conclude an agreement, a source of knowledge of the talks confirmed at CBS News.
A delegation from Hamas currently holds a critical meeting with the Qatarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and a delegation representing Egyptian information concerning the exchange of prisoners, a source told CBS News. A delegation from Israel also participates in talks, confirmed the Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz.
Steve Witkoff, a special American envoy in the Middle East, actively works on Saturday to try to create a cease-fire type mechanism to release more hostages, confirmed CBS News. Witkoff had helped negotiate the agreement with Hamas to release the Last Israeli-American hostage living, Edan AlexanderA few days before Trump’s week’s trip to the region.
Qatari Prime Minister Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani told Fox News that his government had helped persuade Hamas to make the release, which was to be a first step towards a full hostage agreement. However, the Prime Minister said that a massacre in a Gaza hospital the next day had scuttled these efforts.
On Saturday, there is a push renewed by the mediators of Egypt and Qatar, as well as American support, to see if a cease-fire agreement can be concluded to release the remaining hostages and end the blockade of Israel three months in Gaza.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when terrorists led by Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and removing 251 others. Israel’s reprisal offensive has killed more than 53,000 PalestiniansMany of them women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not make the difference between civilians and combatants.
Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.
