Gaza Ceasefire Ends Nearly Two Months After Deal

Agencies

One of the strikes.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is reportedly over as Israeli fighter jets began striking the Gaza Strip on Tuesday early hours, 18 March 2025,  after Hamas refused repeated hostage deal offers, officials said. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry stated the death toll from the Israeli strike overnight has risen to "at least 330". 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began striking Hamas terrorist targets across Gaza "in order to achieve the war objectives set by the political leadership, including the release of all our hostages—both the living and the fallen," the office of Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a letter. 

"This decision comes after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all proposals presented by U.S. President’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, as well as the mediators," the letter states. 

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the airstrikes came after Hamas "rejected all offers it received" from the U.S. President Donald Trump administration's special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff and the other mediators. 

Five senior Hamas members were allegedly killed in the IDF strikes on Gaza overnight, Israeli and Arab media reported on Tuesday, citing Palestinian reports.

The strikes come after nearly two months of a ceasefire to pause the 17-month-long war where dozens of hostages were released for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has insisted on sticking with the original terms of the deal, with Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza and agreeing to permanently end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages. 

Netanyahu has long insisted that Israel will not end the war until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been destroyed.



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