Israeli cabinet to decide on next steps in Gaza war on Tuesday: Report
Israel’s cabinet is expected to hold a session on Tuesday to determine its next steps in Gaza after stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and the return of captives held in the enclave.
The Israel Hayom newspaper reported that the government was hoping increased attacks on Gaza and the blockade on humanitarian aid would make Hamas change its stance and accept US envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal to extend the first stage of the ceasefire by several weeks in return for five captives.
According to the report, members of the government believe continuing military pressure is essential, but there are disagreements on the method.
Netanyahu and his Likud party ministers believe gradual pressure should continue in hopes that Hamas would accept the deal.
However, more far-right ministers, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, are pushing for a full-scale war to eliminate Hamas.
‘We will pursue Hamas wherever it is’
Israeli army spokesperson Effie Defrin has said the military will “pursue Hamas wherever it is, both in the north of the Gaza Strip, in the south of the Gaza Strip, and outside the Gaza Strip”, until all captives are released.
“We are operating in the northern Gaza Strip and in the southern Gaza Strip … we have cut off the Khan Younis area from the Rafah area,” Defrin said in a statement delivered from the buffer zone between the two cities that Israel refers to as the Morag Corridor.
“The purpose of the operation is to increase pressure on Hamas in order to bring the hostages home and to collapse the Hamas regime, the military wing of Hamas, the military and the government.”
Defrin said that the “ambiguity” surrounding Israel’s operations in Gaza was part of a strategy to keep surprising Hamas and that the army would open more fronts in the rest of Gaza now that it had completed a buffer zone in the south.
US ambassador to Israel calls on Hamas to accept ceasefire proposal for aid to enter Gaza
The new US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has called on Hamas to accept a proposed ceasefire to release captives in exchange for humanitarian aid to flow into the enclave, which Israel has blocked since early March.
“When that happens and hostages are released, which is an urgent matter for all of us, then we hope that the humanitarian aid will flow and flow freely, knowing it will be done without Hamas being able to confiscate and abuse their own people,” Huckabee said in a video statement on X.
The ambassador’s comments come after Hamas rejected the latest ceasefire proposal last week. The group’s chief negotiator said it rejected any “partial” agreements and sought a comprehensive deal including “halting the war” and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
A @WHO official called upon me to put pressure on Israel to bring more humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. How about we put the pressure where it really belongs – on Hamas. pic.twitter.com/5AAv5Q63DD
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@USAmbIsrael) April 21, 2025
No the pressure really belongs on the USA at this point.
