Israel, which is resuming its war in Gaza, says it is taking “strong action” against Hamas in pursuit of its original war goals of freeing the hostages, dismantling Hamas, and removing the threat of terror attacks from the Gaza Strip.
A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office, David Mencer, told reporters at a virtual press conference on March 18 that Israel had renewed its attacks earlier in the day for two reasons.
Hamas had rejected “two concrete mediation proposals” for continuing the cease-fire from U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, he said, and “Israel has knowledge that Hamas planned to carry out terrorist attacks against Israel.”
“Hamas was using the cease-fire to build up its focus and rearm to reattack,” he said.
In “precise, preemptive strikes” against the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups, the Israeli military had already successfully hit Hamas military commanders and leadership officials, terrorist cells, launch posts, weapons stockpiles, and “military infrastructure used by these terror organizations which were ready and primed to attack our people,” he said.
The attacks were ongoing, Mencer said during the March 18 press conference.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Israel has learned our lessons from the Oct. 7 massacre,” he said.
“Israel will never again allow Hamas or any other genocidal terror force to build up its terror force on our borders. Hamas has repeatedly vowed to repeat the Oct. 7 massacre and our duty is to stop them.”
Mencer said Israel’s attacks would increase in intensity.
When The Epoch Times asked what Israel’s demands or conditions were for Hamas to resume the cease-fire, Mencer suggested that its renewal seemed unlikely.
“Hamas had rejected the Witkoff proposals. In fact, they had rejected all of the proposals,” he said. “As such, Israel has returned to fighting Hamas.”
He said the 59 hostages still held, of which more than half are believed dead, “should be returned home immediately.”
Mencer said the fighting’s resumption had been “fully coordinated with Washington.” He called the U.S.–Israel alliance “stronger than ever.”
Answering a question about the cutoff of humanitarian aid, Mencer said that during the 42 days of the cease-fire’s first, and so far only, phase, more than a million tons of aid—25,000 trucks’ worth—had gone into Gaza, “more than enough” food and supplies for the people there, he said.
“This is what Hamas are doing. They steal the aid, they resell the aid, they use the money to rearm, and then they aim to attack again,” he said.
They resell it, he said, “at vastly increased prices.”
He quoted former President Joe Biden as having said on Oct. 18, 2023, that if Hamas diverted or stole aid, it would stop.
“Aid that goes to Hamas is not humanitarian,” Mencer said. “Enabling the enemy to resupply itself so it can regroup and reattack us, as our intel has very clearly shown, that is not humanitarian. It is suicidal and we will not allow it.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had warned Gazan civilians to evacuate areas under attack, located throughout the Gaza Strip.
The IDF named a number of Hamas leaders who were eliminated “with high probability” during the attacks, including head of government Essam al-Da'alis, Minister of Internal Affairs Mahmoud Marzouk Ahmed Abu-Watfa, head of Internal Security Forces Bahajat Hassan Mohammed Abu-Sultan, and Minister of Justice Ahmed Amar Abdullah Alhata.
The IDF changed the security status of Israeli districts near the Gaza frontier. Schools were closed in two of them. Late on March 18, it eased those restrictions. Classes could be held as long as shelter was available in case of an alert.
Karen Shachar Amar, who lives in Moshav Brehya, about five miles north of the Gaza frontier, told The Epoch Times that schools were still open there.
“I didn’t sleep much last night,” she said in a text message. “I heard the planes, the bombings, dogs barking from the bombings. But we didn’t have any sirens.”
