Israel launches large‐scale operation to capture and secure key areas of Gaza

The Israeli Defense Forces launched Operation Gideon’s Chariots on Saturday, intensifying airstrikes and deploying troops in Gaza to defeat Hamas and free hostages amid mounting civilian casualty concerns.

Israel’s military has launched “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” mobilizing troops to capture strategic areas of Gaza and secure the release of the remaining hostages, the Israeli Defense Forces announced on their Hebrew X account. According to the IDF, more than 150 terror targets were struck across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, and operations will continue “until Hamas is no longer a threat and all our hostages are home.” The English-language X account referred only to intensified efforts to defeat Hamas, without using the operation’s name.

Since Thursday, the Hamas-run civil defence in Gaza reports roughly 250 fatalities from Israeli attacks, while local authorities told Reuters that at least 58 Palestinians were killed in overnight airstrikes. An Israeli‐imposed aid blockade, in place since the collapse of a two-month ceasefire in March, has compounded the humanitarian crisis. U.S. President Donald Trump remarked on Friday that “a lot of people were starving” in Gaza.

International concern is mounting. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned that the bombardment, forced evacuations and blockade risk constituting “a push for a permanent demographic shift… tantamount to ethnic cleansing.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was “troubled” by the situation. Meanwhile, Victoria Rose, a British reconstructive surgeon at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, described her team as “exhausted” and noted severe malnutrition and burn injuries among child patients, many of whom have lost teeth.

A UN-backed assessment this week classified Gaza’s population as being at “critical risk” of famine, a claim repeatedly denied by the Israeli government. The operation follows Hamas’s 7 October 2023 cross-border attack, which killed around 1,200 people and led to 251 hostages being taken; 58 remain captive. According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, at least 53,000 Palestinians have died since the conflict began.

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