Israel Resumes Attacks in Gaza After Stalled Cease-Fire Talks with Hamas

Israel’s overnight attacks on Gaza stopped short of an immediate ground invasion, suggesting that its leaders may be waiting to gauge Hamas’s reaction before returning to a full-scale ground war, analysts said on Tuesday.The Israeli strikes, which health officials said killed more than 250 people, followed weeks of fruitless negotiations on an extension to the country’s truce with Hamas.The talks stalled after Israel pushed Hamas to release significant numbers of hostages, a move that Hamas was unwilling to make without assurances that Israel would allow it to remain in power in Gaza after the war ends.The nature of Israel’s strikes on Tuesday morning suggested that its leadership was trying to force Hamas to compromise in those talks, a deadly and risky tactic that could still lead to full-scale war, analysts said.By focusing on missile strikes instead of ground operations, Israel is seeking “to push Hamas to show more flexibility,” said Michael Milstein, an Israeli analyst of Palestinian affairs and a former senior officer in Israeli military intelligence.“Personally I don’t think it’s likely Hamas will be ready to give up their red lines,” Mr.

Milstein said.“I’m quite concerned that within a few days we will find ourselves in a limited war of attrition: ongoing airstrikes but no readiness from Hamas to give up.”Six hours after the bombardment began, Hamas still had not fired back — either because its military capabilities were so degraded during the earlier phases of the war, or because it sought to avoid a stronger response from Israel.But it showed no public signs of backing down in the negotiations.

In a statement, Hamas condemned the strikes, saying that Israel had condemned the remaining hostages in Gaza to an “unknown fate” and calling for it to be held “fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement.”Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said in a statement that Israel’s goal was “...