Why Israel has restarted the war with Hamas
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listen to the Air Mom So Hard podcast on Acast. Woo! Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com The Rafah Mawasi area was really shaking. The ground was shaking. It reminds us with the beginning of the war, the type of airstrike which were very heavy.

I'm Venetia Rainey, and this is an emergency episode of Battlelines. It's Tuesday, 18th of March, 2025.

After just two months of a shaky ceasefire deal, the Israel-Hamas war has restarted. This morning, Israel launched a series of what it described as extensive strikes right across the entire Gaza Strip. The death toll currently stands at more than 400, including many children, with nearly 600 more people wounded, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. That number is expected to rise as more bodies are pulled from the rubble.

Israel said the strikes targeted mid-ranking military commanders, leadership officials and terrorist infrastructure. Hamas's prime minister and several other government officials are confirmed to be among those killed. A spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry said this morning that Israel was left with no choice after Hamas refused a US-Israeli proposal to extend the ceasefire, which technically elapsed at the beginning of this month.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised increasing military strength and Defence Minister Israel Katz said the gates of hell would remain open in Gaza until all of the hostages are set free. US President Donald Trump's administration was consulted by Israel in advance of the renewed attacks, according to the White House.

To make sense of all this, we're going to hear from three people on the show. A Palestinian aid worker in Gaza, the cousin of an Israeli slain hostage still held by Hamas, and our Jerusalem correspondent, Henry Bodkin. We start in southern Gaza, where Dr. Mohamed Abou-Mukhaïsib works for international NGO Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF. This is how he described this morning.

We wake up at 2 a.m. on very heavy airstrikes. The Rafah, Mawasi area was really shaking. The ground was shaking. It reminds us with the beginning of the war, the type of airstrikes which were very heavy.

And we started contacting our teams who are working in our facility in Nasser Hospital and they received around five patients. Among the five patients were three children, one woman and one adult. The type of injuries are really very difficult from amputation of the limbs to complicated ortho and burn cases.

"In total, the Ministry of Health announced that there has been more than 400 casualties during the night during this airstrike in the whole Gaza Strip from the north to the south. The hospitals are really not able to cope with the situation regarding the mass casualties that they received at once in all the hospitals from north to the south."

MSF later updated that Nasser Hospital alone by Tuesday lunchtime had received 55 dead people and 113 injured. For Palestinians in Gaza, the resumption of this war that has already killed more than 37,000 people is a nightmare. It comes amid a total aid blockade, which has prevented anything from coming in for 16 days right over the holy month of Ramadan, where Muslims fast during the day.

Last week, Israel also severed electricity supplies to the territory, which has stopped many desalination plants from working and affected already scarce water supplies. On Monday, the UK warned for the first time since the start of the conflict that Israel is breaking international law by stopping aid from getting into Gaza, in what amounts to a significant hardening of the British position. This is Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaking in the Commons yesterday when asked about the blockade.

My honourable friend is right. This is a breach of international law. Israel, quite rightly, must defend its own security. But we find the lack of aid, it's now been 15 days since aid got into Gaza, unacceptable.

hugely alarming and very worrying. And we would urge Israel to get back to the amount of trucks that we were seeing going in, way beyond 600, so that Palestinians can get the necessary humanitarian support they need at this time. For many Israelis, the resumption of the war is also a nightmare for them. The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum said this morning that their greatest fear has come true.

They accuse the Israeli government of choosing to give up the hostages. Protesters have already started to gather outside Israel's parliament. Hamas have threatened that Netanyahu is now exposing the hostages left in Gaza to an unknown fate. The terror group Hamas are still holding 24 living hostages, all young men, plus 35 bodies of people who were either killed on October 7 and taken back into Gaza or have died since in captivity.

Among the bodies being held is that of Tal Haimi. Tal was killed by Hamas while fighting to defend his hometown kibbutz of near Yitzhak on October 7, 2023. His body has been held in Gaza ever since. His cousin, Udi Gorin, has spent the last 16 months campaigning to bring his body home, along with all the other hostages. This is how Udi reacted to the news that Israel has started bombing the Gaza Strip again.

I think that going back to war is a very bad decision that would have ample implications on both sides. Actually, it would have implications on the entire region. Instead of seeing a full commitment by all sides in order to reach an agreement, both from Hamas, both from the Israeli government and the mediators,

We're not seeing them go into a room until there's white smoke coming out and until they make sure they reach an agreement that brings all the hostages back and end hostilities. And I think that right now it is up to the international community to put every bit of pressure on.

on Hamas, on the Israeli government, and on the mediators in order to say loud and clear: if you care about human lives, this is the only thing to do. Bring back all the hostages. We have living hostages that are in grave danger if we go back to war. We have deceased hostages that are in grave danger of us losing their tracks forever. And also there are civilians.

that will suffer from going back to war. And this is why the international community must stand up for what's right. And what's right is ending this crisis, ending this catastrophe by bringing all the hostages back, prioritizing this before anything else, because this is the key to ending hostilities, not going back to war.

So why is this happening? And why now? I asked our Jerusalem correspondent, Henry Bodkin. The reason this is happening on the face of it is very simple. It's because the hostage deal with Hamas has stalled. Benjamin Netanyahu is not prepared to discuss a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave or even to entertain the idea of a Hamas presence there long term. Hamas, for its part, has refused to release any further hostages without progress on these points. The question of why now is more knotty.

However, there are a number of factors which could potentially explain Israel's decision to start fighting again. After all, technically, it could have done so more than two weeks ago, when phase one of the agreement ran out. Firstly, there has always been a real concern among the IDF and the security services that Hamas was using the ceasefire to rebuild its fighting capacity.

On Monday evening it was reported that intelligence had detected unusual activity among the group in recent days, possibly in preparation for an attack, perhaps even for another raid into Israeli territory. To whatever extent that is true, Israel is briefing that they believe the group has recruited hundreds of new terrorists in recent weeks and has repaired much of their command and control apparatus. This may not be the only reason. As ever with Benjamin Netanyahu, politics plays its role.

Until last night, the dominant story in Israel was his attempt to sack Ronan Barr, the respected head of Shin Bet, the internal security service. Now it's hard to overstate how controversial this has become, because in a security state like Israel, Shin Bet is akin to a priesthood. Any perceived attempt to politicise it strikes at the very heart of citizens' sense of safety. As such, a huge protest was planned for Wednesday morning in Jerusalem. Now that may still go ahead, but as of Tuesday, no one's talking about that anymore.

Then there's the ever-pressing problem of keeping Mr Netanyahu's coalition partners happy, particularly as he prepares for the uphill challenge of getting his budget through the Knesset, in effect holding his government together. Many of these partners, such as Bazalel Smotrich, the finance minister, are on the far right and have been itching to get back to the war. With at least five senior Hamas figures reportedly dead and indications of a renewed ground offensive, they have much to be happy about today. So what next?

The IDF has already issued evacuation orders to Palestinians living on the edges of the Gaza Strip, suggesting its renewed offensive could soon expand. Attacks across the Gaza Strip were continuing as we recorded this at midday on Tuesday. Hamas has claimed it's working with mediators to curb the aggression, but it's not clear if this ceasefire can be saved. Reactions from around the world are also pouring in.

The UN human rights chief Kurt Volker said he was horrified by the strikes. And Egypt, a key mediator in the ceasefire talks, accused Israel of a flagrant violation of the deal. We'll be monitoring it all here on Battlelines. But for now, that's all for today's emergency episode. We'll be back again on Friday with another Trump edition. Until then, goodbye.

Battlelines is an original podcast from The Telegraph created by David Knowles. If you appreciated this podcast, please consider following Battlelines on your preferred podcast app. And if you have a moment, leave us a review as it helps others find the show.

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