Israel Returns to War in Gaza          03/21 06:01

   Israel's renewed military offensive in the Gaza Strip threatens to be even 
deadlier and more destructive than the last, as it pursues wider aims with far 
fewer constraints.

   (AP) -- Israel's renewed military offensive in the Gaza Strip threatens to 
be even deadlier and more destructive than the last, as it pursues wider aims 
with far fewer constraints.

   Israel resumed the war with a surprise bombardment early Tuesday that killed 
hundreds of Palestinians, ending the ceasefire and vowing even more devastation 
if Hamas doesn't release its remaining hostages and leave the territory.

   President Donald Trump has expressed full support for the renewed offensive 
and suggested last month that Gaza's 2 million Palestinians be resettled in 
other countries. Iran-backed militant groups allied with Hamas are in disarray.

   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition is stronger than ever, 
and there are fewer hostages inside Gaza than at any point since Hamas ignited 
the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which gives Israel's military more 
freedom to act.

   It all suggests that the war's next phase could be more brutal than the 
last, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed, the vast majority 
of the population was displaced and much of Gaza was bombed to rubble.

   "If all the Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not expelled from 
Gaza. Israel will act with an intensity that you have not seen," Defense 
Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday.

   "Return the hostages and expel Hamas, and other options will open up for 
you, including going to other places in the world for those who wish. The 
alternative is complete destruction and devastation."

   Even less US pressure to spare civilians

   The Biden administration provided crucial military and diplomatic support to 
Israel throughout the first 15 months of the war.

   But it also tried to limit civilian casualties. In the early days of the 
war, Biden persuaded Israel to lift a complete siege on Gaza and repeatedly 
urged it to allow in more humanitarian aid, with mixed results. He opposed 
Israel's offensive in southern Gaza last May and suspended a weapons shipment 
in protest, only to see Israel proceed anyway. Biden also worked with Egypt and 
Qatar to broker the ceasefire through more than a year of negotiations, with 
Trump's team pushing it over the finish line.

   The Trump administration appears to have set no restrictions. It hasn't 
criticized Israel's decision to once again seal off Gaza, to unilaterally 
withdrawal from the ceasefire agreement that Trump took credit for, or to carry 
out strikes that have killed hundreds of men, women and children.

   Israel says it only targets fighters and must dismantle Hamas to prevent a 
repeat of the Oct. 7 attack, when Palestinian militants killed roughly 1,200 
people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages.

   The Biden administration voiced doubt about those aims, saying months ago 
that Hamas was no longer able to carry out such an attack.

   The offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians before the January 
ceasefire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between 
militants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead were 
women and children.

   Trump has suggested Gaza be depopulated

   Trump appeared to lose interest in the ceasefire weeks ago, when he said it 
should be canceled if Hamas didn't immediately release all the hostages.

   A short-lived White House attempt to negotiate directly with Hamas was 
abandoned after it angered Israel. Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, then 
blamed Hamas for the demise of the truce because it didn't accept proposals to 
immediately release hostages.

   Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages -- its only 
bargaining chip -- in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting 
ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the ceasefire 
agreement.

   Trump, meanwhile, has suggested that Gaza's entire population be transferred 
to other countries so that the U.S. can take ownership of the territory and 
rebuild it for others.

   Palestinians say they don't want to leave their homeland, and Arab countries 
roundly rejected the proposal. Human rights experts said it would likely 
violate international law.

   Israel has embraced the proposal and said it is drawing up plans to 
implement it.

   Netanyahu's government is stronger than ever

   Netanyahu came under heavy pressure from families and supporters of the 
hostages to stick with the truce in order to bring their loved ones home. For 
months, thousands of protesters have regularly gathered in downtown Jerusalem 
and Tel Aviv, blocked major highways and scuffled with police.

   In restarting the war, though, Netanyahu brushed them aside and strengthened 
his hard-line coalition.

   Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned 
to protest the ceasefire, returned to the government shortly after Tuesday's 
strikes. He and Bezalel Smotrich, another far-right ally of Netanyahu, want to 
continue the war, depopulate Gaza through what they refer to as voluntary 
migration, and rebuild Jewish settlements there that Israel removed two decades 
ago.

   Netanyahu has also fired or forced out several top officials who had 
appeared more open to a hostage deal.

   Hamas and its allies are in disarray

   Hamas still rules Gaza, but most of its top leaders have been killed and its 
military capabilities have been vastly depleted. Israel says it has killed some 
20,000 militants -- without providing evidence.

   In its first attack since Israel ended the ceasefire, Hamas fired three 
rockets on Thursday that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv, without causing 
casualties.

   Lebanon's Hezbollah, which traded fire with Israel throughout much of the 
war, was forced to accept a truce last fall after Israel's air and ground war 
killed most of its top leadership and left much of southern Lebanon in ruins. 
The overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad removed a key ally and further 
diminished the militant group.

   Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, and which directly traded fire 
with Israel twice last year, appears unlikely to intervene. Israel said it 
inflicted heavy damage on Iran's air defenses in a wave of retaliatory strikes 
last fall, and Trump has threatened U.S. military action if Iran doesn't 
negotiate a new agreement on its nuclear program.

   The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have resumed long-range missile fire 
against Israel, which has rarely caused casualties or serious damage. The U.S., 
meanwhile, launched a new wave of strikes on the Houthis, which could further 
limit their capabilities.

   International criticism could be more muted

   The first phase of the war sparked worldwide protests, some criticism from 
European leaders and action at the United Nations. Israel was accused of 
genocide at the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal 
Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanayahu.

   This time could be different.

   The Trump administration has detained foreign-born pro-Palestinian student 
activists and others, and threatened to pull billions of dollars in federal 
funding from universities accused of tolerating antisemitism, making a repeat 
of last year's U.S. campus protests unlikely. Europe is already locked in 
high-stakes disputes with Trump over aid to Ukraine and American tariffs, and 
appears unlikely to push back on the Middle East.

   The U.S. and Israel have adamantly rejected the actions by both 
international courts, accusing them of bias. Trump signed an executive order in 
early February imposing sanctions on the ICC, of which neither the United 
States nor Israel are members.