Operation Gideon Chariots: Israel Intensifies War amid Dire Conditions in Gaza
Israel has launched a new major military offensive in Gaza, dubbed Operation Gideon Chariots, aimed at defeating Hamas and pressuring the Palestinian movement to release the remaining hostages.
The expanded military operation comes as the UN and humanitarian organizations strongly condemn Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, which have made the situation “beyond inhumane” for its Palestinian population.
Operation Gideon Chariots
Early on Saturday, the Israeli military announced it had launched Operation Gideon Chariots, a major military offensive aiming to ramp up pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages, reported the Associated Press (AP).
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had started the first stages of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza. This involved launching extensive attacks and mobilizing forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip “to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza, including the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”
Israel wants Hamas to agree to a temporary ceasefire on Tel Aviv’s terms, which involve freeing the hostages without necessarily ending the war. Hamas, on the other hand, insists on a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a deal that charts a pathway toward ending the war.
Growing Gap
The launching of the new military operation came amid ongoing ceasefire talks in Qatar. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday instructed the Israeli negotiating team to stay in Doha for the indirect talks with Hamas and the US Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, in order to “fully exhaust all efforts to secure the release of our hostages,” CNN reported citing an Israeli official.
Moreover, the Israeli expanded offensive came on the heels of a Middle East tour by the US President, Donald Trump, which did not include Israel, suggesting growing difference between the two key allies.
Last week, Trump said that he wanted to see an end to the “brutal war” in Gaza. He also said that the US would take care of the situation in Gaza, as people there were facing starvation. “We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving,” he said while in Abu Dhabi.
Earlier, he bypassed Isarel while forging a deal with Hamas to release the Israeli-American hostage, Edan Alexander, and another truce with the Houthis in Yemen to stop targeting US ships in the Red Sea.
Humanitarian Catastrophe
Since Israel intensified its strikes on Gaza on Thursday, at least 262 people have been killed and 675 others wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Also on Thursday, the Health Ministry announced that Israel’s war on Gaza, which erupted following the October 7, 2023 attack, has claimed the lives of more than 53,000 people, mostly women and children.
On Saturday, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, lashed out against Israel’s actions in Gaza. “The situation for Palestinians in Gaza is beyond description, beyond atrocious & beyond inhumane,” he wrote on X.
“A policy of siege & starvation makes a mockery of international law. The blockade against humanitarian aid must end immediately. This is a moment for moral clarity & action,” he added.
Importantly, the UN World Food Program (WFP) warned last week that the people of Gaza are at risk of famine. “470,000 people in Gaza are facing catastrophic hunger, and the entire population is experiencing acute food insecurity,” it noted.
Operation Gideon Chariots raised alarm worldwide. In a statement, a spokesperson for the German Foreign Office said that “a large-scale military offensive also entails the risk that the catastrophic humanitarian situation for the population in Gaza and the situation of the remaining hostages will continue to deteriorate and that the prospect of an urgently needed long-term ceasefire fades.”
An Arab Call for Action
Arab leaders reiterated their support for the Palestinian cause during the 34th Arab League Summit in Baghdad. In the final communique, they called for an immediate cessation of war in Gaza and an end to all hostile acts against civilians.
They also called for the international community to step up pressure to stop the bloodshed, ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, and provide political, financial, and legal support to the joint Arab-Islamic plan for early recovery and reconstruction, adopted at the extraordinary Cairo Summit in March and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers in Jeddah the same month.
The Arab leaders also stressed their categorical rejection of any forced displacement or relocation of the Palestinian people from their land, saying that any such move would be a crime against humanity and an act of ethnic cleansing.
