A senior Hamas official, Basem Naim, stated on Tuesday that the group is no longer interested in truce talks with Israel. He urged the international community to intervene and stop what he described as Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza. Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau and a former health minister in Gaza, emphasized the futility of discussions on ceasefire proposals as long as the situation of deprivation and violence continues.
Naim’s comments followed a day after Israel’s military announced that its operations in Gaza would expand to include the displacement of “most” of the population. The Israeli security cabinet has approved a plan for military operations that, according to an official, would lead to “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories.” Since the onset of the war, triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, nearly all inhabitants of Gaza have been displaced multiple times.
As of March 2, Gaza has been under a total Israeli blockade, and the region is experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis. Israel’s military resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18, ending a two-month truce. Following recent attacks, Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defense agency, reported that three Palestinians, including a young girl, were killed in Israeli dawn strikes across various locations in Gaza.
On Monday, a United Nations spokesman expressed alarm about the Israeli military plan, asserting that it would lead to numerous civilian casualties and further devastation in Gaza. Farhan Haq, a UN representative, insisted that Gaza must remain an integral part of a future Palestinian state.
This Israeli military decision, which includes a “large-scale evacuation” of Gazan civilians from conflict zones to southern Gaza, has triggered warnings from the UN and aid organizations about an impending humanitarian disaster. Military spokesman Effie Defrin stated that the offensive aims to protect civilians by relocating them.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called the Israeli plan “unacceptable” and claimed it violates humanitarian law. For many Palestinians, the concept of forced displacement triggers painful memories of the “Nakba” — the mass dislocation of Palestinians during the 1948 war that led to the founding of Israel.
As of now, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported that at least 2,459 people have died since Israel resumed military operations on March 18, raising the total death toll from the ongoing conflict to 52,567. The conflict was ignited by Hamas’s attack on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, predominantly civilians. Out of the 251 individuals abducted by militants during that attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, with 34 being reported deceased by the Israeli military.
