On March 18, 2025, Israel launched a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, which took the lives of hundreds of Palestinian people and also put a huge dent on the ongoing ceasefire process. It has now been revealed by Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt to Fox News that Israel had given the White House a heads up about the attack. She said, “The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight.”
Gaza Ministry of Health has informed that at least 404 people in Gaza have been killed because of this surprise attack by Israel. This comes after a ceasefire deal was agreed upon in January and Israel said that they had aimed these attacks on Hamas targets.
In a statement, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office mentioned, “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.” Netanyahu also said Hamas “repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the U.S. presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators.”
The fact that Donald Trump had given these attacks a go-ahead has been confirmed by The Wall Street Journal that cited an Israeli official as their source. These attacks now have extremely severe implications because the ceasefire deal had come after much destruction in Gaza and this now not only threatens the barely emerging peace there but also hints at the reinforcement of war.
View this post on Instagram
Post this attack, Hamas released a statement where they held Israel completely accountable for “violating and overturning the agreement.” Moreover, Israel’s decision of this surprise attack has also been slammed by a group of people who represent the family of hostages who are still in Gaza as they claimed that such a decision shows that the government “chose to give up the hostages.”
The Hostage Families Forum took to X to post, “We are shocked, angry, and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas.” Another post by the group read, “Families of kidnapped children have been begging for a while now for meetings with elected officials who are entrusted with the fate of their loved ones. Now, it turns out that elected officials did not meet with them because they were planning to blow up the ceasefire, which could sacrifice their family members.”
View this post on Instagram
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has mentioned that it “affirms that political solutions are key to achieving calm, stopping the aggression, and restoring the political horizon for resolving the conflict.” The ministry also sought help from international resources to stop these attacks by Israel.
Muhannad Hadi, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for Palestine also echoed the same sentiment, saying, “This is unconscionable. A ceasefire must be reinstated immediately.”
However, with Trump backing Israel and these sudden attacks instigating Hamas all over again, it now remains to be seen what moves Israel now has up their sleeves and how badly that would affect Gaza and its citizens.
