Israel launches a new military operation in Gaza. Netanyahu tells negotiating team to stay at talks

JERUSALEM — Israel said Saturday it launched a major military operation in the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a negotiating team to remain in Qatar for indirect talks with the terrorist group.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Operation Gideon Chariots was being led with “great force.” Netanyahu had vowed to escalate pressure with the aim of destroying the terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades.

The military operation in the Palestinian territory came a day after President Donald Trump concluded his Middle East trip without a visit to Israel. There had been hope that his visit could increase the chances of a ceasefire deal or the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

An Israel official said that Netanyahu was in constant contact throughout the day with the negotiating team in Doha, Qatar, and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, and instructed the team to remain there. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the sensitive negotiations with the media.

Hamas, which released an Israeli-American hostage as a goodwill gesture before Trump’s trip, insists on a deal that ends the war and leads to the withdrawal of Israeli forces — something Israel said that it won’t agree to.

Israel’s army said on social media it wouldn’t stop until the hostages are returned and the terrorist group is dismantled. Israel believes as many as 23 hostages in Gaza are still alive, although Israeli authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of them.

More than 150 people had been killed in recent Israeli strikes, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on the strikes. A separate statement said that the military had killed dozens of fighters while dismantling an “underground route” in northern Gaza.

Hundreds of protesters rallied Saturday night in Tel Aviv, some holding photos of Palestinian children killed in Gaza, with others demanding a deal to end the war and bring all hostages home.

“Let me be crystal clear. All of Israeli society, left, right, secular, religious, stands united in calling for a hostage deal. To miss this moment for a deal would be a betrayal of history, a stain that will never fade,” Dalia Kushnir-Horn, sister-in-law of hostage Eitan Horn, told the crowd.

Meanwhile, Gaza is in the third month of an Israeli blockade with no food, water, fuel or other goods entering the territory.

Last week, a new humanitarian organization that has U.S. backing to take over aid delivery said that it expects to begin operations by the end of the month, after what it described as key agreements with Israeli officials. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation identified several U.S. military veterans, former humanitarian coordinators and security contractors to lead the effort.

Many in the humanitarian community, including the U.N., said that they won’t participate, because the system doesn’t align with humanitarian principles and won’t be able to meet the needs of Palestinians in Gaza.