JERUSALEM (news agencies) — Israel’s defense minister said Friday he has ordered ground forces to advance deeper into the Gaza Strip, vowing to hold more land until Hamas releases the remaining hostages it holds.
After retaking part of the strategic Netzarim corridor that divides Gaza’s north from south, Israeli troops moved Thursday toward the northern town of Beit Lahiya and the southern border city of Rafah. The military said it had resumed enforcing a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was delivered a setback in his attempt to fire the country’s domestic security chief. Hours after Netanyahu’s Cabinet unanimously approved the firing of Ronen Bar, the Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt to his dismissal until an appeal can be heard.
The court said it was delaying the firing until an appeal could be heard no later than April 8. Netanyahu’s office had said Bar’s dismissal was effective April 10, but that it could come earlier if a replacement was found.
Israel’s attorney general has ruled that the Cabinet has no legal basis to dismiss Bar.
A Shin Bet report into Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that prompted the war acknowledged failures by the security agency. But it also said policies by Netanyahu’s government created the conditions for the attack.
In his comments about Gaza on Friday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said operations there would continue “with increasing intensity until the hostages are released by Hamas.”
“The more Hamas continues its refusal to release the kidnapped, the more territory it will lose to Israel,” Katz said.
The decision to sack Bar deepens a power struggle focused largely over who bears responsibility for the 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
It also could set the stage for a crisis over the country’s division of powers. Israel’s attorney general has ruled that the Cabinet has no legal basis to dismiss Bar.
Critics say the move is a power grab by the prime minister against an independent-minded civil servant, and tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated in support of Bar, including outside Netanyahu’s residence on Friday.
In addition to its report on the Oct. 7 attack, Netanyahu is also upset that Shin Bet has launched an investigation into connections between some of his close aides and the Gulf state of Qatar. His office said Bar’s dismissal would take effect on April 10 or before then if a replacement is found.
Nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel on Tuesday shattered a truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages and brought relative calm since late January.
Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians, has said it would escalate military operations until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed alive — and gives up control of the territory.
The ceasefire agreed to in mid-January was a three-phase plan meant to lead to a long-term cessation of hostilities, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the return of all hostages taken by Hamas in its surprise attack on Israel.
In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas returned 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces also withdrew to buffer zones inside Gaza, and hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians returned to northern Gaza.
The ceasefire was supposed to continue as long as talks on the second phase continued but Netanyahu balked at entering substantive negotiations.
Instead, he tried to force Hamas to accept a new ceasefire plan put forth by U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
That plan would have required Hamas to release half its remaining hostages — the militant group’s main bargaining chip — in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners — a key component of the first phase.
Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the original ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
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