Palestinian children gather to receive food cooked by a charity during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 3, 2025. (Credit: Hatem Khaled/Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set two options in motion: exert "maximum pressure" to force Hamas into accepting new cease-fire terms or resume the war in Gaza. On Monday, he signaled his intent to compel Hamas at all costs to agree to new conditions in the cease-fire agreement. The day before, he announced "suspension of all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip."This escalation comes as Israel aligns itself with a proposal by Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. The plan calls for extending the cease-fire through Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover. Under the proposal, half of the 59 remaining hostages in Gaza — including 35 whom the Israeli military has declared dead — would be returned at the start of the truce, with the rest repatriated at the end if a permanent cease-fire...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set two options in motion: exert "maximum pressure" to force Hamas into accepting new cease-fire terms or resume the war in Gaza. On Monday, he signaled his intent to compel Hamas at all costs to agree to new conditions in the cease-fire agreement. The day before, he announced "suspension of all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip."This escalation comes as Israel aligns itself with a proposal by Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. The plan calls for extending the cease-fire through Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover. Under the proposal, half of the 59 remaining hostages in Gaza — including 35 whom the Israeli military has declared dead — would be returned at the start of the truce, with the rest repatriated at the end if a permanent...
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