Israeli defense minister orders IDF to intensify Gaza operations amid hostage standoff

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday to continue military operations against Hamas in Gaza amid uncertain negotiations.

“I have instructed the IDF to continue forward in Gaza against all targets, regardless of any negotiations, and to use every means necessary to protect IDF soldiers and to eliminate and crush the Hamas murderers,” Katz announced in a post on the social media platform 𝕏.

He warned that Hamas would pay the full price for its refusal to release the remaining 58 Israeli hostages who have been held in Gaza for over 600 days. At least 20 of the hostages are believed to still be alive. 

“Those who slaughtered and fought us will pay the full price. Either Hamas releases the hostages, or it will be destroyed,” Katz said.

Munther al-Hayek who serves as a spokesperson for Hamas’ political rival Fatah, reacted to the warnings from the Israeli defense minister by urging Hamas to step down from power in the coastal enclave Gaza that the terror organization has ruled since its violent takeover in 2007. 

"We told Hamas that it must withdraw from the political scene in Gaza," al-Hayek said in an interview with the Saudi-owned news outlet Al Hadath. 

The Fatah official also urged Hamas to embrace a more responsible tone in its official statements and urged it to support the PA administration in Ramallah. 

While al-Hayek called on Hamas to step down from power, he nevertheless stressed that Fatah “will not accept the exit of any Palestinian citizen from the Gaza Strip.”

Israel has offered Hamas and its operatives the possibility to leave the Gaza Strip as a path towards ending the war. 

He also told the news outlet that the security system in Gaza has collapsed, likely referring to the growing lawlessness in the enclave. Israeli officials have recently assessed that a severely weakened Hamas is increasingly losing influence and control in Gaza as Israel and the United States have switched to a humanitarian aid infrastructure that bypasses Hamas and delivers aid directly to Gaza’s population. 

Until quite recently, Fatah rarely criticized its political rival Hamas in public due to their shared hostility towards Israel. 

However, in April, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who also heads Fatah, called Hamas “sons of dogs” and accused the terror group’s conduct of provoking Israeli military operations in Gaza. 

“Why don't we hand over the American hostages? You sons of dogs, release those who are with you and end this story, shut up their [Israel’s] excuses, end it,” Abbas stated. Dogs are traditionally considered “impure” in Islam and the expression “son of dogs” is meant as an insult. 

He also accused Hamas of causing a new “Nakba” or disaster in Gaza. 

“We are facing enormous dangers, the closest to a Nakba – a new disaster that threatens the existence of the Palestinian people and threatens the elimination of the entire national cause,” Abbas said.

The term “Nakba” has been used to refer to displacement of Arab communities during the war that broke out following the 1947 UN resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in British Mandate Palestine.