Israeli Defense Forces struck Hamas targets in Gaza on Monday after Hamas refused to release hostages as agreed in a ceasefire deal, killing at least 400 people and destroying dozens of targets.

The Times of Israel reported that Israel notified President Donald Trump of the strikes before they occurred.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said that “the gates of hell will open in Gaza” and that Hamas will be hit in a way it has “never seen before” if all 59 remaining hostages are not released right away.

“Tonight we returned to fighting in Gaza in light of Hamas’s refusal to release the hostages and amid its threats to harm IDF soldiers and Israeli communities,” Katz said.

Return to fighting

“Tonight we returned to fighting in Gaza in light of Hamas’s refusal to release the hostages and amid its threats to harm IDF soldiers and Israeli communities,” Katz added.

A ceasefire has been in place since January 19, and Israel has kept up its end of the bargain while Hamas reneged on promised hostage releases.

The renewed strikes by Israel have brought former Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir back to the government.

Ben-Givir, a hard-right official, left the government over disagreements related to the ceasefire.

“Likud and Otzma Yehudit have agreed that the Otzma Yehudit faction will return to the Israeli government today, and the ministers of Otzma Yehudit will return to the government,” both Ben-Givir's Otzma Yehudit party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud parties said in a joint statement.

When he left the government, Ben-Givir said that the ceasefire would “erase the achievements of the war” by releasing Hamas prisoners, some of them dangerous militants, and ceding territory in Gaza.

U.S. reaction

The return to fighting between Hamas and Israel will surely revive the debate in the United States between factions that support Israel and those who think the Palestinians have been wronged and were justified in attacking Israel on October 7, 2023.

Let's make that continue the debate, since protests on college campuses have continued even while the ceasefire was happening.

For his part, Trump has warned Hamas since it started dragging its feet on releasing Israel's hostages that it was risking renewed fighting.

Families of captives still being held by Hamas protested the renewed airstrikes, reasoning that Israel was "abandoning" their loved ones by returning to fighting.