Report: Benjamin Netanyahu preparing to possibly renew the war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a consultation yesterday (Friday) regarding the possibility of renewing the war against Hamas in Gaza, according to Channel 13 News.

Senior officials in Israel said their impression is this is the direction Netanyahu is aiming for, and that the IDF is now being required to present operational plans to return to the war against Hamas.

Israel returning to fight after the first phase of the hostage exchanges was one of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's conditions for remaining in the government.

Smotrich and Netanyahu conducted multiple meetings before the deal was agreed upon, with Smotrich trying to secure concrete assurances that the Prime Minister would indeed not go through with the hostage deal, which would include a permanent end to the war.

Qatar, which serves as the main mediator for the hostage deal, has meanwhile pressed hard for both Israel and Hamas to see the whole deal through and has complained of the pressure to restart the war in some corners.

Israel made a point of not committing to a permanent end to the war even before the first phase, a condition Hamas insisted upon until shortly before the current deal was signed and agreed to.

However, completing the second and third phases of the war would require agreeing to such a condition, otherwise the remaining 79 hostages - some 35 of whom have been declared dead by the IDF - would not be released, nor would the Palestinian terrorists meant to be exchanged for them.

Minister Orit Strook recently told Makor Rishon that "Returning to fighting and achieving decisive victory seems like a realistic, achievable event to me. This is anchored both in the former American president's side letter, and in the dialogue with the incoming president. In the cabinet decision, this is very strongly anchored. The change in military command and the presidential transition in the United States are part of this event. Until now, we've been conducting the war with our hands tied behind our backs. It wasn't just a weapons embargo - there was really intense diplomatic pressure from Biden.

"The new command that will be in the IDF must be one that has the power to wage a different war - we're not aiming for an endless war. When Trump says end of war and we say end of war, we definitely mean the same thing - an end to the war that includes defeating Hamas. When he talks about Gaza residents migrating to other countries because Gaza is a site of destruction, in my view he means that he doesn't see Gaza being rebuilt before its complete demilitarization, and that he thinks Gaza needs to change fundamentally. In my opinion, Trump and we are on the same page."