Israel’s defence minister said he has ordered ground forces to advance deeper into the Gaza Strip, and vowed to hold more land until Hamas releases the remaining hostages it holds.
Israel Katz said: “The more Hamas continues its refusal to release the kidnapped, the more territory it will lose to Israel.”
After retaking part of the strategic Netzarim corridor that divides Gaza’s north from south, Israeli troops moved towards the northern town of Beit Lahiya and the southern border city of Rafah on Thursday.
Gaza has been devastated by the conflict (AP)
The military said it had resumed enforcing a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City.
Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet unanimously approved his request to sack the head of the country’s Shin Bet internal security service.
The decision to sack Ronen 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 Mr Bar.
Ronen Bar has been removed as chief of Israel’s domestic Shin Bet security agency (Pool via AP)
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 Mr Bar, including outside Mr Netanyahu’s residence on Friday.
A Shin Bet report into Hamas’ attack on October 7 2023 that prompted the war acknowledged failures by the security agency. But it also said that policies by Mr Netanyahu’s government created the conditions for the attack.
Mr Netanyahu is also upset that the Shin Bet has launched an investigation into connections between some of his close aides and the Gulf state of Qatar.
His office said Mr Bar’s dismissal would take effect on April 10 or before then if a replacement is found.
Nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed since Tuesday, when Israel shattered a truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages and brought relative calm since late January.
Baby Ella Osama Abu Dagga, just 25 days old, was pulled from the rubble following an Israeli army air strike that killed her parents and brother, in Khan Younis (AP)
Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly two 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 Mr Netanyahu baulked at entering substantive negotiations.
Instead, he tried to force Hamas to accept a new ceasefire plan put forth by US Middle East 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.
The militant group has said it is willing to hand over power to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority or a committee of political independents but will not lay down its arms until Israel ends its decades-long occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state.
Hamas said in a statement on Friday that the sacking of Shin Bet’s head shows a “deepening crisis of distrust” within Israel’s leadership, and claimed that Mr Netanyahu “engineered sham negotiations to stall and buy time without any genuine intention of reaching tangible outcomes”.
Mr Netanyahu said he had ordered the resumed strikes on Gaza because of Hamas’ rejection of the new proposal.