Israel threatens Gaza siege, targeted killings, and invasion to force Hamas to release hostages
Report details Israel’s plans to force Hamas into resuming release of hostages – including restoring the full siege on Gaza, targeted killings of Hamas leaders, mass evacuations in Gaza, and a full-scale invasion.
By World Israel News Staff
Israel’s cabinet has prepared a list of measures to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages held in the Gaza Strip, with progressively more intense steps taken should the Gaza terror group refuse to comply.
Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Israeli government has drafted a plan to force Hamas to resume its release of hostages, with a list of incremental moves to pressure Hamas before returning to a full-blown ground war in Gaza.
The first step, halting the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip, has already been implemented, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israeli border crossings to bar passage to trucks entering Gaza last Sunday.
Now, according to the report, Israel is poised to restore the full siege on Gaza that was put in place in the early days of the war, shortly after October 7, 2023. This would include a complete halt to the supply of electricity and water from Israel to Gaza.
Indeed, late Sunday afternoon, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen (Likud) signed an order to stop supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip immediately.
According to the Journal report, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) said Israel had already discussed both measures last week.
Should Hamas continue its refusal to release hostages, Israel would then launch a campaign of targeted assassinations against Hamas leaders and airstrikes targeting Hamas positions across Gaza – but without a return to the ground campaign.
After that, Israel is expected to order mass evacuations of Gazans, clearing out the northern Gaza Strip, as the IDF did early in the war.
Then, should all else fail, the IDF will resume its full-scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip; likely on a larger scale than before the ceasefire, with the goal of directly controlling large swaths of the Gaza Strip.
