Israel assassinated four senior Hamas members and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization's spokesman in a series of airstrikes launched early Tuesday. It was Israel’s first major military foray into Gaza since a ceasefire was enacted two months ago and signals that both the United States and its closest Middle East ally will no longer wait for Hamas to agree to an extension of that deal.
Hamas confirmed that four of its leaders were killed when Israel conducted "extensive strikes" across the Gaza Strip following consultations with the Trump administration. They include: Issam al-Da’alis, head of Hamas’s administrative committee; Ahmad al-Khatta, the director general of its justice ministry; Mahmoud Abu Watfa, director general of the interior ministry; and Bahjat Abu Sultan, who runs Hamas’s domestic security agency.
Naji Abu Saif, a spokesman for the PIJ terror group that works alongside Hamas, was also killed with his wife and other family members when Israel struck his Gaza home. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry claimed that more than 400 people had been killed during Israel’s strike, though these figures are notoriously unreliable. They were nonetheless cited by the likes of the Associated Press, which referenced "Gaza's Health Ministry" but did not disclose Hamas's control over it.
A White House National Security Council spokesman confirmed the United States was aware of Israel’s operations and blamed Hamas for stalling weeks of negotiations aimed at extending the ceasefire and securing the release of 54 hostages, both living and dead, who still remain in captivity.
"Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war," the spokesman, Brian Hughes, said in a statement shared with the Washington Free Beacon.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday evening that "all hell will break loose" if Hamas continues to stall peace talks.
"As President Trump has made clear, Hamas, the Houthis, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay," Leavitt said. "All hell will break loose."
Israel’s military operation was meant to achieve "the war goals as determined by the political echelon, including the release of all our hostages—living and dead," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Tuesday. Last week, Hamas rejected a U.S.-backed plan to extend the ceasefire’s first phase beyond Ramadan and Passover, drawing a sharp rebuke from both the White House and Israel. Military operations are likely to continue so long as Hamas delays the release of the remaining hostages.
Hamas "is making a very bad bet that time is on its side," Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday. "It is not. Hamas is well aware of the deadline, and should know that we will respond accordingly if that deadline passes."
Prior to that statement, the terror group claimed that it was willing to release the last living American hostage, Edan Alexander, as well as the bodies of four other dual citizens the terror group murdered in captivity.
Netanyahu subsequently accused the terror group of "manipulation and psychological warfare," saying that it was making empty promises while rejecting a firm ceasefire.
Israel has already formulated a plan, first reported in the Free Beacon, to resume war in the Gaza Strip and fully "eradicate Hamas." It signaled the start of that plan earlier this month, when it halted any entry of goods into the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas's rejection of Witkoff's phase one ceasefire extension. With Tuesday’s strikes in Gaza, it appears that portions of this plan are already being carried out.