Haaretz military analyst Amos Harel asserted on Tuesday that "Israel deliberately violated the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, with American approval, the night before last, because it refused to implement all the conditions it pledged to two months ago. There is no other way to interpret the decision to resume fighting in the Gaza Strip."

He added, "Hamas' psychological abuse of the detainees and their family members throughout the recent rounds of release (prisoner exchange) cannot be considered a major breach of the agreement on its part. It is the Israeli government that failed to implement the agreement when, in recent weeks, it did not complete the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, especially from the Philadelphi corridor, as it had committed to. Hamas refused to turn a blind eye and move forward in releasing detainees under the new mediation initiatives put forward by the Americans, and negotiations have become stalled."

Harel predicted that Israel would continue its airstrikes later, "and also implement the plan of the Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, for a new, large-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, hoping this time to finally defeat Hamas." Several military divisions would participate in the invasion, after a broad call-up of reserve forces once again, "and it will take place for the first time under conditions in which there is no real public consensus on the justness of returning to war."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that only through military pressure on Hamas will it be possible to return the 59 Israeli prisoners still being held in the Gaza Strip.

But Harel stressed that "this is a long-disproven pretext. In practice, approximately 40 abductees died in the Gaza Strip, under various circumstances, after being abducted alive from Israeli territory on October 7. Resuming military pressure certainly poses a danger to the living captives, and could lead to a further tightening of their already difficult captivity conditions. In a more extreme scenario, it could prompt Hamas to target some of them in retaliation."

The Israeli government justifies the resumption of the war on Gaza with the goal of breaking the deadlock in negotiations over a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, and fulfilling its pledge to defeat Hamas, "even though the timelines for achieving these two goals are not synchronized. The kidnapped soldiers could die before Hamas is defeated, if that happens at all," according to Harel.

The analyst noted that "there are a series of pressing political goals that Netanyahu is not speaking about out loud: bringing Ben-Gvir and his party back into the government, approving the budget, and stabilizing the coalition. This time, it's truly a full-fledged battle for Netanyahu's safety, including an attempt to divert media attention from the renewed protests against the government, against the backdrop of Netanyahu's intention to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet."

Harel believes that "Netanyahu's true goal is to gradually slide into a regime with dictatorial characteristics, whereby he attempts to ensure his survival by maintaining an eternal war on several fronts. It seems to him that the kidnapped soldiers can die in the tunnels, knowing that they contributed to his continued rule."