The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is over as Israeli fighter jets began striking the Gaza Strip after Hamas refused repeated hostage deal offers, officials said. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began striking Hamas terrorist targets across Gaza “in order to achieve the war objectives set by the political leadership, including the release of all our hostages—both the living and the fallen,” the office of Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a letter. 

“This decision comes after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all proposals presented by U.S. President’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, as well as the mediators,” the letter states. 

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“Tonight, we returned to fighting in Gaza due to Hamas’ refusal to release the hostages and threats to harm IDF soldiers and Israeli communities,” Katz said. “If Hamas does not release all the hostages, the gates of hell will open in Gaza, and Hamas’ murderers and rapists will meet the IDF with forces they have never known before.”

He noted that Israel “will not stop fighting until all the hostages return home and all the war’s goals are achieved.”

In a statement, Hamas blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “and the Nazi Zionist occupation fully responsible for the repercussions of the treacherous aggression on Gaza, and for the defenseless civilians and our besieged Palestinian people, who are subjected to a brutal war and a systematic policy of starvation.”

The terror group called for the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council to urgently convene to adopt a resolution demanding Israel halt military operations and fully withdraw from Gaza. 

Hamas has insisted on sticking with the original terms of the deal, with Israel fully withdrawing from Gaza and agreeing to permanently end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining living hostages. 

Netanyahu has long insisted that Israel will not end the war until Hamas’s governing and military capabilities have been destroyed.

The strikes come after nearly two months of a ceasefire to pause the 17-month-long war where dozens of hostages were released for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

On Monday, Israeli forces launched airstrikes in Gaza, southern Lebanon and southern Syria. The IDF said it was targeting terrorists plotting attacks. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.