Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that Israel had been planning to resume its genocidal war in Gaza since the Israeli military’s new chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, took the position on March 5.
“As we promised and explained, the IDF returned tonight to a powerful attack on Gaza with the goal of destroying Hamas, returning all the hostages, and removing the threat posed by the Gaza Strip to Israeli citizens, thereby restoring security to residents of Israel’s encirclement and all Israeli citizens over time,” Smotrich wrote on X.
“This is a gradual process that we have built and planned in recent weeks since the new Chief of Staff took office, and with God’s help, it will look completely different from what has been done so far,” he added.
When the Gaza ceasefire deal was first reached, Smotrich said he received assurances from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the full deal wouldn’t be implemented. He said Netanyahu vowed that Israel would restart military operations after the first phase of the ceasefire with the goal of taking over the entire Gaza Strip.
At the time, Netanyahu said that he received a guarantee from President Trump that Israel could restart military operations at the end of the first phase. The US has strongly backed Israel’s resumption of large-scale bombing in Gaza, which killed over 400 Palestinians on Tuesday morning, including scores of women and children.
Also on Tuesday, during a Knesset committee hearing, Smotrich clashed with family members of Israeli hostages who expressed their opposition to Israel restarting its genocidal war. The full implementation of the ceasefire deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to in January would have led to the release of all remaining Israeli hostages.
“We heard you. Get out. We are continuing. Stop thinking you have the right to take control of the conversation and not allow others to think differently from you. We too paid a price. Let’s not have a competition,” Smotrich said.
According to The Times of Israel, Smotrich then instructed Knesset guards to escort the hostage family members out. One relative replied, saying they hadn’t been heard. Smotrich replied, “We hear you too much.”
