The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.
Former hostage, wife of current captive post broken heart emojis as Israel resumes Gaza strikes
Hostage Omri Miran’s wife Lishay tweets a broken heart emoji shortly after Israel resumed airstrikes in Gaza in what appeared to amount to the collapse of the ceasefire after roughly two months.
Former hostage Noa Argamani posts the same thing.
— Noa Argamani (@ArgamaniNoa) March 18, 2025
In its statement announcing the overnight strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel moving forward will “act against Hamas with increasing military strength, adding that the operation is designed to achieve Israel’s war aims — the dismantlement of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities and the return of all remaining 59 hostages.
Most 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.
Night’s Gaza death toll climbs to 232, Hamas-run health ministry says
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry raises the death toll from tonight’s surprise resumption of Israeli airstrikes to 232.
One-hundred and thirteen of those people were killed in southern Gaza, the ministry says, adding that over 1,000 people were wounded.
The Hamas figures have not been verified and don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Footage from Gaza shows dozens of children, women and elderly people among the casualties.
Israel insists it doesn’t target civilians, while Hamas hides among them.
White House: Hamas could have released hostages to extend ceasefire, but chose war
“Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes tells The Times of Israel.
Officials from Hamas-run Gaza health ministry raise night’s death toll to 130
Officials from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry say that over 130 people have been killed in tonight’s resumption of Israeli strikes throughout Gaza.
Over 300 other have been wounded, the Gaza-based sources say.
The figures have not been verified and typically conflate civilians with combatants.
According to Palestinian media reports, among those killed is Mahmoud Abu Watfa, a senior Hamas security official. Abu Wafta is the deputy head of Hamas’s interior ministry.
استشهاد اللواء محمود أبو وطفة وكيل وزارة الداخلية بغزة جراء قصف الاحتلال على مدينة غزة pic.twitter.com/cMPkh8zjEG
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) March 18, 2025
IDF says it’s prepared to widen Gaza assualt beyond air raids after targeting Hamas commanders, politburo members and infrastructure
The Israeli military says it has launched an extensive wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, targeting mid-level Hamas commanders, members of the terror group’s politburo, and its infrastructure.
According to the IDF, dozens of strikes have been carried out so far. The strikes were ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.
The strikes come after the IDF says it identified Hamas preparations to launch attacks on Israel, along with its efforts to regroup and rearm. Katz says the strikes also come after Hamas has refused to release hostages.
The IDF says 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 adds that it is deployed and prepared on all fronts, including with heightened alert with its air defenses.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir is managing the operation with Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar from the IDF headquarters.
Following an assessment, it was decided to postpone schools in the Gaza border communities tomorrow, as well as halt the train line to Sderot.
The IDF says it won’t be detailing further information on the campaign at this time due to operational security concerns.
The plans had been kept secret until now for the IDF to have the element of surprise.
Death toll from renewed Israeli strikes reportedly climbs to 59, as 150 wounded
The death toll from tonight’s renewed Israeli strikes in Gaza has climbed to 59, Al Jazeera reports, citing Gaza-based medics who add that roughly 150 have been wounded throughout the Strip.
The casualties include several children, the medics say. Unconfirmed footage from the Strip posted on social media shows several lifeless bodies of babies and toddlers.
Three houses were hit in Deir Al-Balah along with a building in Gaza City and targets in Khan Younis and Rafah, medics and witnesses tell Reuters.
Hamas: Israel unilaterally ending Gaza truce, exposing hostages to unknown fate
A senior Hamas official tells Reuters that Israel is unilaterally ending the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The terror group issues a statement saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s decision to resume Israel’s “aggression” against Gaza exposes the hostages “to an unknown fate.”
Hamas calls on the mediators — the US, Qatar and Egypt — to hold Netanyahu fully responsible for ending the ceasefire deal.
The terror group calls on Arab and Muslim countries to back “Palestinian resistance” aimed at “breaking the unjust blockade imposed on Gaza.”
Hamas also calls on the UN Security Council to urgently convene to issue a resolution obligating Israel to halt its “aggression.”
Amid renewed strikes, Katz says ‘gates of hell will open in Gaza’ if hostages not released
In a statement issued shortly after the IDF resumed strikes throughout Gaza after a nearly two-month ceasefire, Defense Minister Israel Katz says “the gates of hell will open in Gaza” and that Hamas will be hit with a force it has “never seen before” if it doesn’t release all 59 remaining hostages.
“Tonight we returned to fighting in Gaza in light of Hamas’s refusal to release the hostages and amid its threats to harm IDF soldiers and Israeli communities,” Katz says.
“We will not stop fighting until all of the hostages return home and all the war’s aims are achieved,” he adds.
Hostage families have long argued that Israel’s war aims contradict each other and that a return to fighting in order to dismantle Hamas’s military and governing capabilities will endanger their loved ones.
Hamas has insisted on sticking with the original terms of the deal, which was supposed to enter its second phase at the beginning of the month. That phase envisioned Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza and agreeing to permanently end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages. While Israel signed on to those terms in January, Netanyahu has long insisted that Israel will not end the war until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been destroyed.
Accordingly, Israel refused to even hold talks regarding the terms of phase two, which were supposed to begin on February 3.
Nonetheless, the ceasefire had remained in place for roughly two and a half weeks after the end of phase one, as the mediators worked to broker new terms for its extension.
Accepting Israel’s aversion to phase two, Witkoff presented a bridge proposal last week that would have seen phase one extended for several weeks during which five living hostages would be released. The US envoy said Sunday that Hamas’s response to the offer was a “non-starter” and warned of impending consequences if the terror group did not change its approach.
At least 20 said dead in renewed Israeli strikes throughout Gaza
Al Jazeera reports that at least 20 people have been killed in the renewed Israeli air strikes against Gaza.
The casualties include children, according to other Arabic media reports.
Israel says it is striking Hamas targets throughout the Strip. The IDF has long maintained that it doesn’t target civilians, while Hamas hides among them.
Hebrew media says dozens of targets have been hit and that dozens of fighter jets are taking part in the operations.
באל-ג'זירה טוענים: לפחות 20 הרוגים כתוצאה מתקיפות צה"ל ברצועת עזה pic.twitter.com/H5rVok5u1f
— ספיר ליפקין | Sapir Lipkin | سابير ليبكين (@sapirlipkin) March 18, 2025
Israel reportedly gave US heads up on renewed Gaza military operations
Israel updated the Trump administration in advance about tonight’s IDF strikes in Gaza along with the objectives for the renewed military operations in the Strip, Axios reports, citing unnamed Israeli officials.