Karan Thapar 
Israel’s former justice minister, Yossi Beilin, analyses and discusses the ferocious intensity with which Israel has resumed its war on Gaza and the implications and consequences of this renewed attack.
Is Israel determined to obliterate Hamas no matter what the toll of Palestinian civilian lives? As the Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy has written, is the resumption of war Israel’s “biggest mistake since October 7”? How worried is Israel about protests in the West against its renewed war which could now escalate considerably? How does it respond to pressure from the United States to minimise civilian casualties and from France and Spain for a ceasefire? And what about the hostages? Does the renewed war suggest Israel is prepared to sacrifice them in its quest to eliminate Hamas? Finally, how much of all of this is explained by Netanyahu’s determination to remain prime minister by appeasing his extreme right wing allies and by deflecting attention from his alleged negligence and provocative policies?