After hostage negotiations broke down, Israel “expanded” operations in Gaza – Axios

According to reports, the government of the country thought Hamas was holding back to prevent an IDF attack.

Following a deadlock in negotiations to release hostages held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Israeli military has expanded its ground operations in Gaza, according to Axios, which cited sources on Saturday. At now, Hamas is detaining about 200 individuals, comprising of both military personnel and civilians.

The war council decided on Thursday night to escalate hostilities, according to two Israeli sources who spoke with the site. Following reports that the discussions were unable to result in the captives’ release, the Israel Defence Forces announced that they had resumed air and ground operations in Gaza.

According to a senior official quoted in The Times of Israel on Friday, the administration thinks Hamas “has been dragging out hostage negotiations” in order to delay the offensive in Gaza. The source for the paper also said that no breakthrough was in the near future.

CNN on the same day, citing a source with knowledge of the negotiations, claimed there had been “significant progress,” refuting that assessment.

An American network source stated, “There are still issues, but talks are ongoing, and we remain hopeful.”

This followed the announcement on Thursday by Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, that Tehran-affiliated Hamas “is ready to release civilian prisoners.” According to a number of media reports, Israel has been advised by the Biden administration to postpone its ground invasion in order to buy more time to secure the hostages’ release.

Since the start of its surprise invasion on October 7, according to Israeli officials, Hamas has abducted 224 hostages, some of them are foreign nationals. Four of the people detained by the extremist group have been released thus far; these include two elderly Israeli women and a mother and daughter from Chicago.

Simultaneously, Hamas asserts that approximately fifty hostages have been murdered by Israeli attacks. Official estimates state that 1,400 Israelis and over 7,300 Palestinians have died in the conflict to date.