Palestinian terrorists and members of the Red Cross gather near vehicles on the day Hamas hands over deceased hostages Oded Lifschitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two children Kfir and Ariel Bibas, seized during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, to the Red Cross, as part of a ceasefire and hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces resumed military operations against Hamas in Gaza, striking targets across the Strip and ordering the evacuation of civilians from at-risk areas.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the US had been consulted on Israel’s plans, stating: “As President Trump has made clear — Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,” she told Fox News.

Her remarks confirmed what negotiators in Washington and Jerusalem had already stated: efforts to extend the previous ceasefire deal — agreed upon in January and expired on March 1 — had failed, as Hamas refused to accept the terms.

President Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, had earlier reiterated that Hamas’ disarmament was a prerequisite for any long-term ceasefire: “A starter is Hamas demilitarizing, not rearming—leaving all their arms on the ground and leaving Gaza. We need a deadline for the second phase. The way the hostages are being held is unacceptable.”

Let’s be clear about what’s happening. Israel did not break the ceasefire; it ended two weeks ago.

🔸Hamas tried to manipulate the news cycle by publicly accepting a hostage exchange offer that was NEVER on the table.

🔹Hamas has months of food in storage but won’t release it…

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 18, 2025

A Permanent Ceasefire That Never Was

The ceasefire agreed to in January was never a permanent arrangement. It was a phased ceasefire, with an initial stage that included hostage-prisoner exchanges, humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a provision for further negotiations — negotiations that were supposed to begin 16 days into the first phase but never materialized.

Critically, the second phase — which neither Hamas nor Israel agreed to — was where the possibility of a permanent ceasefire would have been discussed. It never happened.

The media seemed to understand this just two weeks ago.

On March 3, the BBC reported: “Since 1 March, when stage one expired, the ceasefire has been in limbo. Stage two has not begun, and both sides are digging their heels in.”

Wire services — Reuters, the Associated Press, and AFP — reported on March 2 that Israel was blocking aid “after first phase of ceasefire deal expire[d].”

CNN, NBC News, and Sky News also acknowledged that the ceasefire had expired.

Yet, remarkably, these same outlets are now accusing Israel of violating a supposed permanent ceasefire by launching strikes in Gaza.

Sky News announced in its Monday night headline: “Explosive end to Gaza ceasefire as bodies pile up in their hundreds following Israeli strikes.” [Nothing “explosive” about an outcome that had been repeatedly forewarned.]

Politico, using AP copy, similarly framed Israel’s operation as a massacre, asserting that airstrikes had killed “at least 200” in what it called “the heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January.”

Notably, the report omitted any attribution for the rapidly reported casualty figures — numbers that, as always, originated from Hamas.

Meanwhile, The Guardian saw fit to print Turkey’s absurd claim that Israel had committed a “massacre” — a striking choice, given that the same Turkish government has spent the past week supporting Syrian army forces massacring thousands of Alawites in Syria.

The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army has massacred over a thousand people, mainly Alawite civilians, in the past week.

Yet Turkey has the gall to accuse Israel of a “massacre.”

But @guardian amplifies anyone who buys into its anti-Israel narrative, no matter the hypocrisy. pic.twitter.com/74buXOyNDZ

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 18, 2025

CNN declared that the ceasefire had been “shatter[ed] as Israel pounds Gaza with wave of deadly strikes,” opening with Hamas’ accusation that Israel had “overturn[ed] the nearly two-month-long ceasefire agreement” and was “putting the captives in Gaza at risk of an unknown fate.”

NBC News reported that “more than 400 Palestinians” were killed after “Hamas said Israel had violated the ceasefire agreement.” The outlet also included Hamas’ claim that Israel was “exposing the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate” in its bullet point summary of events — yes, “prisoners” in this case refers to the Israeli hostages who were abducted on October 7.

Here are the salient points:

• The first stage of the graduated ceasefire agreement expired on March 1.
• Hamas repeatedly refused to agree to an extension or any of the prerequisites for a second stage.
• Two weeks ago, the international media seemed fully aware of these facts.

So what changed?

Certainly not the facts. But the media’s narrative? That did.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.