Israel’s defense minister has ordered the military to take additional parts of the Gaza Strip, and vowed to hold them until Hamas releases the remaining hostages it holds.

The United States told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was to blame for the deaths in the Gaza Strip since Israel resumed hostilities there. "Hamas bears full responsibility for the ongoing war in Gaza and for the resumption of hostilities.

The agreement reached in January, under pressure from the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump one, called for a phased ceasefire aimed at freeing all the hostages abducted in Hamas' Oct 7, 2023, attack and ending the war it caused.

Israelis took to the streets on Thursday (March 20) calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza.

Hours later, Hamas fired three rockets at Israel without causing casualties, in the first such attack since Israel broke the ceasefire on Tuesday. Zaher al-Waheidi, the head of the records department at the Gaza Health Ministry,