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2025-03-20 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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IDF ground forces operating in Gaza; Katz warns of ‘total destruction’ unless hostages returned; 70 toes up
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[IsraelTimes] Defense minister issues ‘final warning’ to Gazans to eject Hamas, says combat zone evacuations will soon begin; military names 2 more senior Hamas officials killed in strikes
The IDF said Wednesday it had launched “pinpoint” ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip, as Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Hamas’s continued rule in the enclave would lead to its “total destruction and ruin.”
The army said its operations were aimed at expanding the security zone near the border and creating a partial buffer between northern and southern Gaza. Troops of the 252nd Division entered the Netzarim Corridor area, a route that splits Gaza into north and south, capturing around half of it, up to the Salah a-Din road.
At the same time, the IDF said it deployed the Golani Brigade to the southern part of the Gaza border, readying it for action in the Strip.
Katz said Israel would soon issue evacuation orders for combat zones in the Strip.
“Gaza residents, this is a final warning. The first Sinwar ruined Gaza and the second Sinwar will completely obliterate it,” the defense minister said, referring to the slain leader of the terror group, Yahya Sinwar, and to his brother, Mohammed Sinwar, a senior Hamas military commander who is thought to have succeeded him.
“The Air Force strikes against Hamas terrorists were just the first step. Things will become much more difficult, and you will pay the full price,” he said.
Katz said that if the hostages are not released and Hamas is not removed from Gaza, “Israel will operate with strength you have not yet seen.”
“Take the US president’s advice. Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you, including leaving for other places in the world for those who desire,” he said.
“The alternative is total destruction and ruin,” Katz added.
The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security agency said Tuesday that Israel’s strikes have targeted cells of terror leaders and operatives, rocket-launching positions, weapons, and other Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror infrastructure.
The Hamas-run health ministry has said over 400 people have been killed since Israel renewed its offensive, including women and children. Its unverified figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel renewed its offensive overnight Monday-Tuesday, citing Hamas’s “repeated refusal” to free Israeli hostages.
The sides have been unable to agree on the continuation of the ceasefire, with Israel insisting on extending the first phase — with more hostage releases in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and further calm — while the terror group has insisted on moving to the second phase, which envisioned Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza and agreeing to permanently end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages.
According to the terms of the January 19 deal, the sides were to launch negotiations over the second phase a few weeks into the first, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to do so, insisting that the war will not end until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been demolished.
Netanyahu said Tuesday night that from now on, negotiations on a continued ceasefire would only be conducted “under fire.”
Israel has previously made various offers including monetary rewards to Gazans who provide information that will lead to the release of hostages, to no avail.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are still holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Overnight, two United Nations employees were killed in an explosion at a UN facility in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Israel denied accusations it was responsible for the blast at the building. A UN source told AFP the two dead were employees of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN mine-mitigation service UNMAS.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said earlier that a foreigner was among those killed and five others were seriously wounded in the explosion in Deir al-Balah, which it blamed on Israel.
In a statement, the IDF said, “Contrary to reports, the IDF did not attack a UN compound in Deir al-Balah. The IDF calls on media outlets to exercise caution with unverified reports.”
Additionally, the IDF and Shin Bet announced that two more top Hamas officials were killed in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip over the past day.
One of the dead was Yasser Mohammed Harb Musa, a member of Hamas’s politburo who headed the defense portfolio and ministry of development.
“As part of his role, Musa handled the advancement and guidance of terror attacks against the State of Israel,” the IDF and Shin Bet said, adding that he was considered close to slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The second Hamas official the IDF said it killed was Mohammed Jamasi, the chief of the terror group’s so-called emergency committee.
“Over the years, Jamasi held key positions in the political bureau and the leadership of the movement and as part of his role in the war, he coordinated a significant portion of the Hamas regime’s government activity in the Gaza Strip, including the guidance of terror attacks against the State of Israel,” the statement added.
The two join a list of several senior Hamas leaders killed since the renewed offensive, including Hamas’s de facto prime minister of the Strip.
Separately, the IDF said Wednesday that it targeted the main command center of Hamas’s Daraj-Tuffah Battalion, located in Gaza City, in one of its overnight airstrikes.
The command center targeted overnight had been used by Hamas to plan numerous attacks against Israel and troops, the IDF said.
Europe decries fresh fighting.
They see no option to Israel sitting still while Hamas runs amok, which is what they want Israel too do under any and all circumstances. For details of their decrials — which ought to be a word — go to the link.
More from The Times of Israel at 2:00 a.m. ET: Over 70 Gazans reported killed in overnight strikes
[IsraelTimes] Gaza’s pro-Hamas Quds News outlet reports that 71 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the Strip overnight, which would raise the death toll to over 540 since Israel resumed its military campaign in Gaza on Tuesday morning.
The news outlet reports that airstrikes took place around Khan Younis, Rafah and other parts of Gaza overnight.
The death toll cannot be verified, and figures from Hamas-controlled health authorities in the Strip have been questioned.
Israel says it is only targeting terrorists and terror infrastructure and blames Hamas and allied groups for collateral damage, saying they use civilians as human shields.
Israel offers condolences for UN staffer killed in Gaza, reiterating that IDF didn’t cause it
[IsraelTimes] The Foreign Ministry expresses sorrow over the death of a United Nations worker in Gaza, but says an initial probe has found that the IDF was not responsible.
The circumstances of the episode are being examined, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein says in a statement.
The military earlier also denied involvement in the death, which allegedly occurred after ordnance hit a UN guesthouse, in the city of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, according to the UN.
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