Reports indicate that Israel’s overnight attacks on Gaza, dubbed Operation Strength and Sword, have not necessarily ended the negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry issued a harsh statement against the IDF attack but at the same time, reports from Qatar indicate that senior Egyptian intelligence officials urgently summoned the Hamas delegation to Cairo.

According to Al-Arabiya, Egypt is holding frantic discussions with the mediators in an attempt to stop the escalation. Sources involved in the negotiations claim that there are efforts to reach a deal that will include the release of a number of Israeli hostages in exchange for a renewed ceasefire.

However, according to the report, Israel has clarified to mediators that until the hostages are released, the negotiations will take place under fire and also threatened to intensify strikes if genuine negotiations do not take place.

Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua told Reuters on Tuesday that communication with mediators is continuing and the terror group is eager “to complete the implementation of the original Gaza ceasefire deal.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Tuesday that the the resumption of strikes on Gaza was necessary to end the Hamas standoff after the terror group rejected two offers proposed by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff. Sa’ar emphasized that Israel has maintained a ceasefire for the past two and a half weeks but Hamas has not returned any hostages. “This is something that Israel cannot accept,” Sa’ar stressed..

Ynet commentator Ron Ben-Yisai wrote that the IDF’s operation in Gaza is intended, among other objectives, to use military pressure to break the current deadlock in negotiations regarding the release of hostages.

“Experience within the IDF and Israeli intelligence has shown that such pressure is the most effective way to push Hamas toward flexibility in negotiations,” he wrote.

The IDF is striking only in targeted locations that according to intelligence assessments, do not pose a direct threat to the safety of hostages.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)