Hell in the Gaza Strip is back Six years in prison for German right-wing extremists

Just hours before the end of the ceasefire on Friday morning, the radical Islamist terror organization Hamas released another six hostages – the seventh group of abductees from October 7 to be freed. The ceasefire lasted a week and since then rockets have been flying from the Gaza Strip towards Israel again. The Israeli army defends itself and again shells Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip. So the war has been going on since the early morning hours.

What does the end of the ceasefire mean for the remaining hostages? What is the Israeli army doing now? t-online answers the most important questions.

What happens next with the ground offensive in Gaza?

Hamas apparently violated the ceasefire about an hour before the deadline. Israel reports that it intercepted rockets from the Gaza Strip in the early morning hours. Since then, fighting has resumed. Hamas has failed to fulfill its obligation to “release all female hostages today and has fired rockets at Israeli civilians,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

Apparently there is heavy fighting in Gaza City and other areas in the north of the Gaza Strip, the Arab television channel Al Jazeera reports, based on eyewitnesses. There is also tank fire near the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. The Israeli army is apparently also carrying out airstrikes in the south of the Gaza Strip, reports the British broadcaster BBC.

Israel must present humanitarian plans to protect the civilian population before resuming major military operations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanded on Thursday during a visit to Israel. The plans should specify exactly which areas civilians in the southern and central Gaza Strip would be safe. The destruction of vital infrastructure such as hospitals, power plants and water supply systems must be avoided. As soon as conditions allow, civilians should also be given the opportunity to return to the north of the Gaza Strip, Blinken said. There should be no permanent displacement within the Gaza Strip.

Israeli government spokeswoman Tal Heinrich then told CNN on Friday morning that plans for safe zones and more humanitarian corridors had been presented to Blinken. “So we want to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza,” she said.

According to Marcus Schneider, the humanitarian situation is catastrophic. One and a half million internally displaced people lived there “crammed together in extremely precarious conditions,” the head of the FES Middle East office told t-online.

What does that mean for the other hostages?

So far, Hamas has released 105 hostages. Israel suspects that about 145 hostages are still in the hands of Hamas. Of these, 15 are said to be women and children, and six are said to have German passports. Nothing is known about the health of the hostages. It is also unclear where exactly the hostages are.

Israeli forces have found at least two dead hostages since the start of the ground offensive, including German Shani Louk. In a television interview on Thursday, a Hamas spokesman, when asked how many hostages were still alive, said: “I don’t know. The number is not that important.”

Just a few days ago, Hamas announced that the youngest kidnap victim, ten-month-old baby Kfir Bibas, and her mother and brother had died while held hostage after an Israeli airstrike. The information cannot be independently verified.

Middle East expert Schneider assumes that most hostages are still alive. “The condition of the hostages exchanged so far suggests that Hamas has certainly recognized the political value of these people. “In other words: a living, interchangeable hostage as a bargaining chip is more valuable than a dead hostage,” he told t-online.

Negotiations for the release of more hostages continue in Qatar, the emirate’s Foreign Ministry announced. However, the talks could be complicated as Hamas could demand a higher price for the remaining hostages. So far, Israel has had to release 240 Palestinian prisoners in return. You can read more about the hostages remaining in Gaza here.

How could Hamas use the ceasefire to its advantage?

The ceasefire was especially important for the suffering people in the Gaza Strip. Shortly before new fighting broke out, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced that 310 trucks carrying aid had successfully reached northern Gaza since the ceasefire began. Since then, more than 1,000 trucks have arrived throughout the area. According to aid organizations, this is only a fraction of the required humanitarian aid supplies.

Military analyst Hendrik Remmel told ZDF that the ceasefire would only be of limited benefit to Hamas as Israel continued to conduct intelligence work. “It will be difficult for Hamas to truly restructure its armed forces, especially as Hamas’s leadership facilities have been hit in recent weeks.” The military benefit of the ceasefire for the terrorist organization is therefore low.

However, Schneider assumes that the terrorist organization has made military use of the ceasefire. “Hamas will have used the time to reorganize itself militarily,” he says. Moreover, Hamas has been politically strengthened.

Can Israel Destroy Hamas?

In addition to freeing the hostages, the destruction of Hamas is the Israelis’ second major war goal. The government repeated this on Friday. “We are prepared for the next phase of the operation,” government spokeswoman Heinrich said.

Shortly before the end of the ceasefire, the Israeli army announced that it had destroyed more than 400 tunnels in the Gaza Strip. Many of the tunnels were located beneath civilian hospitals and schools. Some tunnels are large enough for vehicles. Hamas is said to have hidden in the tunnels and set up command bases there. It is not known how many tunnels there are in total in the Gaza Strip. It is certain that Israeli soldiers will now continue to take action against Hamas’ infrastructure.

However, experts do not believe that Israel will succeed in destroying the entire Hamas. “Politically speaking, this is very difficult because Hamas is not just an organization, but also an ideology,” says Middle East expert Schneider.

Hamas could be defeated militarily in the Gaza Strip, but only with extremely high civilian casualties, the expert said. Furthermore, it is estimated that the Israeli military has only killed between 1,000 and 2,000 Hamas terrorists so far. “However, Hamas has an estimated 30,000 men under arms.”