By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

Israel threatened to permanently seize parts of the Gaza Strip if Hamas does not release all remaining hostages, marking a major escalation in the conflict just days after airstrikes from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shattered a monthslong cease-fire with Hamas.

“I have instructed the IDF to seize additional areas in Gaza, evacuate the population, and expand security zones around Gaza to protect Israeli communities and IDF soldiers,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said. “The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel.” Katz also warned that Israeli forces would intensify air, land, and sea attacks if the militant group did not cooperate.

Hamas said that truce negotiations are ongoing. According to Hamas, the militant group may be willing to show some flexibility in a cease-fire deal—including by releasing more hostages—if doing so would restart talks intended to end the war permanently. Israel, however, remains opposed to any agreement that allows Hamas to remain in control of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be less inclined to return to the original truce now that he has the backing of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who rejoined Netanyahu’s government on Wednesday after Israel renewed attacks on Gaza. Ben-Gvir left the coalition in January over the prime minister’s decision to impose a cease-fire.

But not everyone is happy with Netanyahu’s latest political and wartime maneuvers. Tens of thousands of Israelis held anti-government protests this week to criticize the prime minister’s handling of the war as well as an ongoing scandal that has roiled the country in recent weeks. That scandal, dubbed “Qatargate,” reached new heights this week when Netanyahu ordered the removal of Ronen Bar—the director of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service. Bar would be the first Shin Bet chief to ever be fired.

Netanyahu has said that he is dismissing Bar due to a “persistent loss of professional and personal trust” between himself and the Shin Bet chief, stemming in part from the agency’s failure to warn against Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. An internal investigation by the agency acknowledged on March 4 that it had failed to protect the country, with Bar saying that had Shin Bet acted differently, it could have potentially prevented the attack. Netanyahu said that distrust “has been consolidated during the war, beyond the operational failure of 7 October, and in particular in recent months.”

But critics are questioning the timing of Netanyahu’s decision—not only because Bar’s dismissal comes more than 17 months after Hamas’s initial assault, but also because Shin Bet recently opened an investigation into alleged connections between the prime minister’s close aides and the government of Qatar. This includes potential business ties between Doha and former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein, who has been charged with leaking classified IDF documents and accused of feeding Israeli journalists pro-Qatar stories. Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered a criminal investigation into Qatargate in February—just weeks before Netanyahu sought to dismiss Bar.

Cabinet members voted unanimously to fire Bar, but Israel’s Supreme Court issued an injunction on Friday to freeze his removal until the justices could hear all petitions. Bar did not attend the cabinet vote, but he sent a letter to the cabinet refuting Netanyahu’s “claim of supposed distrust” and stating that his dismissal “is entirely tainted by improper considerations and personal and institutional conflicts of interest of the highest order” given the ongoing Qatargate investigation.

The court hearing will take place no later than April 8; the deadline to remove Bar is April 10. Netanyahu’s allies quickly accused the court of overreaching, and Netanyahu has not yet said whether he will uphold the justices’ ruling.

 

 

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