Article

2025-03-18 Israel-Palestine-Jordan

CEASEFIRE OVER‐Israel Pounding Hamas Targets After Hostage Negotiations Fail

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Posted by Frank G 2025-03-18 00:32|| || Front Page|| [11145 views ] Top
File under: Hamas

#1 IAF conducts extensive strikes on Hamas targets

The Hamas-controlled Gaza Information Ministry claimed that at least 250 were killed in the Israeli strikes, which reportedly hit dozens of targets.

Sources in the Gaza Strip told Kan 11 News that Mahmoud Abu Watfa, head of Hamas's internal security apparatus in Gaza, was eliminated in the Israeli strikes. It was also reported that Mohammed Abu Ubaida al-Jammasi, a member of Hamas's political bureau in the Gaza Strip, was eliminated as well.

Palestinian Arab sources reported that Issam al-Da'alis, a member of Hamas's political bureau, was also eliminated in the strikes.

Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-03-18 01:07|| 2025-03-18 01:07|| Front Page Top

#2 Hamas preparing for a raid? Defense establishment identifies unusual incident in Gaza

Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-03-18 01:09|| 2025-03-18 01:09|| Front Page Top

#3 The Times of Israel adds:

At least 232 Palestinians were killed, including children, according to unverified figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Netanyahu’s office said the decision to resume strikes shortly after midnight on Tuesday “followed Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US special envoy to the Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”

Hostage families have long argued that those aims contradict each other and that a return to fighting will endanger their loved ones. Polling over the past month has indicated that a majority of the Israeli public agrees with the hostage families and backs ending the war in exchange for the release of the hostages. But those polls have also shown that a plurality of coalition voters back resuming the war. Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners have also threatened to collapse the government if he ends the war before Hamas has been dismantled.

Israel wasn’t able to do this during the first 15-plus months of war but is emboldened by the new administration in Washington, which is less likely to criticize Jerusalem over potential civilian deaths or the lack of humanitarian aid in Gaza, which the IDF has blocked entirely since the end of the first phase.

The IDF also has a new chief of staff in Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir who entered the post earlier this month pledging an unrelenting effort to dismantle Hamas.

Netanyahu also announced on Monday that he plans to fire Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, one of several security chiefs who regularly sparred with the premier over his handling of the war. The security establishment has argued that Israel should agree to the original terms of the ceasefire in order to secure the release of the remaining hostages before it is too late, insisting that Hamas can be dealt with at a later date.

The cabinet was initially slated to hold a vote on Bar’s dismissal on Tuesday, but that meeting had not been finalized as of Monday night and the resumption of fighting could well delay that process further.

Bar’s agency joined the IDF in conducting an extensive wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, which the army said targeted mid-level Hamas commanders, members of the terror group’s politburo, and its infrastructure.

An Israeli military official briefing reporters said that the IDF conducted dozens of strikes using dozens of aircraft after Netanyahu signed off on the operation earlier Monday.

The strikes came after the IDF identified Hamas preparations to launch attacks on Israel along with its efforts to regroup and rearm, the Israeli military official said.

The military official said it intends to continue the airstrikes “as long as necessary,” and widen the surprise assault beyond an aerial campaign if it is ordered to.

The IDF is deployed and prepared on all fronts, including with heightened alert with its air defenses, the official added.

The plans for Tuesday’s operation had been kept secret until now for the IDF to have the element of surprise, the military official said.

Posted by trailing wife 2025-03-18 02:33|| 2025-03-18 02:33|| Front Page Top

#4 Polling over the past month has indicated that a majority of the Israeli public agrees with the hostage families

It's all in how you formulate the question.

Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-03-18 02:46|| 2025-03-18 02:46|| Front Page Top

#5 Indeed.

Posted by trailing wife 2025-03-18 03:22|| 2025-03-18 03:22|| Front Page Top

#6 First point in Political Science 1001: How you word the poll question largely determines the result of the poll.

Posted by magpie 2025-03-18 09:30|| 2025-03-18 09:30|| Front Page Top

#7 How you word the poll question largely determines the result of the poll.

Said another way, you can get whatever answer you want by carefully framing the question.

Luckily, we have impartial journalists and data mongers to help us find the truth, bless their hearts.

Posted by SteveS 2025-03-18 10:28|| 2025-03-18 10:28|| Front Page Top

#8 This should be filed under Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics.

Posted by alanc 2025-03-18 10:59|| 2025-03-18 10:59|| Front Page Top

#9 Allegory of 7 Oct? FAFO

Posted by Procopius2k 2025-03-18 12:40|| 2025-03-18 12:40|| Front Page Top

#10 Enough with the military targets. Target the Hamas negotiating team.

Posted by Regular joe 2025-03-18 15:44|| 2025-03-18 15:44|| Front Page Top

23:49 Crusader
23:47 Crusader
20:49 trailing wife
20:11 Rambler
20:07 Rambler
19:30 NN2N1
18:55 SteveS
18:39 Frank G
16:42 Grom the Affective
15:44 Regular joe
15:31 swksvolFF
15:12 Skidmark
15:08 Skidmark
15:05 Skidmark
15:04 Skidmark
14:50 ed in texas
14:36 Thing From Snowy Mountain
14:33 Mercutio
14:25 Mercutio
14:25 Frank G
14:24 NoMoreBS
14:20 Silentbrick
14:18 Mercutio
14:18 Mercutio