Following days of intensified airstrikes, Israel on Saturday announced the launch of a new military offensive — Operation Gideon Chariots — in the Gaza Strip aimed at pressuring Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages. The announcement came as US President Donald Trump finished a visit to the region that included stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but not Israel.
The campaign is being conducted with “great force” by the Israeli army, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was quoted as saying by news agency Associated Press. Of the 57 hostages still held in Gaza, Israel believes up to 23 are alive and has expressed concern about the condition of at least three.
In a statement late on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on its Hebrew X account said they had “launched extensive attacks and mobilized forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening moves of Operation Gideon’s Chariots and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza, to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza”. However, it did not use the operational name in similar posts on its English-language X account.
What is ‘Gideon’s Chariots’?
According to The Times of Israel, the new military offensive in Gaza dubbed as ‘Operation Gideon’s Chariots’ is a reference to the biblical warrior figure Gideon.
The offensive is designed to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages and to eliminate the militant group’s control over Gaza. The operation involves:
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A significant ground incursion by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) into Gaza
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The seizure and control of territory within the strip
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Civilian displacement from northern and central Gaza to the south
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Efforts to prevent Hamas from intercepting humanitarian aid
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Thousands of Israeli troops, including reservists, are expected to take part as the campaign intensifies in the coming days.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as per a report by BBC, said that Israel was preparing an “intense entry into Gaza” to capture and hold territory, reiterating Israel’s objective of dismantling the militant group that has controlled Gaza for nearly 20 years.
An Israeli tank moves in a staging area in southern Israel, near the border with Gaza, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
His government, however, said that it would not commence until Trump had completed a tour of the Middle East. The US president left the region on Friday.
Trump on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis
In the last leg of his trip, Trump on Friday acknowledged that people were starving in Gaza and insisted that the US would address the worsening humanitarian crisis. Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, he said: “We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving.”
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However, long-term discussions on Gaza’s future remain stalled. On Thursday, Trump revived his idea of transforming Gaza into a “freedom zone” — potentially a rehash of a controversial plan he floated in February for the US to assume control of the Palestinian territory and reconstruct it as a luxury leisure and business hub.
There had been widespread hopes that Trump’s visit to the region might increase chances of a ceasefire deal or the resumption of humanitarian aid, which Israel has prevented for more than two months. Instead, the past 72 hours have seen one of the deadliest waves of violence in weeks.
Death toll
More than 150 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. On Friday alone 108 people were killed, mostly women and children. Some officials in the territory put the death toll from Israeli attacks in recent days as high as 250 or 300.
At least 48 bodies were taken to the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, while 16 were brought to Nasser hospital following strikes near the central town of Deir al-Balah and the southern city of Khan Younis, local health officials said, AP reported.
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According to the Gaza Health Ministry, nearly 3,000 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, following the collapse of a fragile ceasefire in January.
The October 2023 attack by Hamas-led militants on Gaza resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Since then, Tel Aviv’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
With inputs from AP, BBC
