Israel launches heaviest strikes against Hamas since ceasefire began, hundreds dead

WARNING: THIS STORY HAS GRAPHIC CONTENT

Gaza Strip: Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Tuesday, saying it was striking Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.

The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza, including much of the northern town of Beit Hanoun and other communities further south, and head toward the centre of the territory, indicating that Israel could soon launch renewed ground operations.

“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu’s office said.

A spokesman for Gaza’s health ministry reported at least 330 deaths, while medics told Reuters the toll included many children. Hundreds more were wounded on one of the deadliest days of the war.

The surprise attack shattered a period of relative calm during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and raised the prospect of a full return to fighting in a 17-month war that has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised questions about the fate of the roughly two dozen remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.

Hamas accused Netanyahu of upending the ceasefire agreement and exposing the hostages “to an unknown fate”. In a statement, it called on mediators to hold Israel “fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement”.

There were no reports of any attacks by Hamas several hours after the bombardment, indicating it still hoped to restore the truce.

Injured Palestinians wait for treatment at the hospital following the airstrikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.Credit: AP

The strikes come as Netanyahu is under mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests planned over his handling of the hostage crisis and his intention to fire the head of Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet.

The main group representing families of the captives accused the government of backing out of the ceasefire, saying it “chose to give up on the hostages”. “We are shocked, angry and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

Wounded stream into Gaza hospitals

A strike on a home in the southern city of Rafah killed 17 members of one family, including at least 12 women and children, according to the European Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included five children, their parents, and another father and his three children.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, Associated Press reporters saw explosions and plumes of smoke. Ambulances brought wounded people to Nasser Hospital, where patients lay on the floor, some screaming. A young girl cried as her bloody arm was bandaged.

In the morgue of the Khan Younis hospital, a distraught man cradled the body of a small child still dressed in pyjamas, in images captured by AP photographer Mohammad Jahjouh. AP later confirmed the man was looking for his brother’s son, who died in the airstrike. He thought the deceased child was his nephew, but it was not.

A man holds the body of an unidentified child, as he searches for his nephew at the morgue of the hospital in Khan Younis after Israeli airstrikes. Credit: AP

Many Palestinians said they had expected a return to war when talks over the second phase of the ceasefire did not begin as scheduled in early February. Israel instead embraced an alternative proposal and cut off electricity, all shipments of food, fuel and other aid to the territory’s 2 million Palestinians to try to pressure Hamas to accept it.

“Nobody wants to fight,” Palestinian resident Nidal Alzaanin said by phone from Gaza City. “Everyone is still suffering from the previous months.”

US backs Israel and blames Hamas

The White House sought to blame Hamas for the renewed fighting. US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group “could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war”.

The airstrikes destroyed homes at the Nuseirat refugee camp.Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images

US envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been leading mediation efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, had earlier warned that Hamas must release living hostages immediately “or pay a severe price”.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the unfolding operation, said Israel was striking Hamas’ military, leaders and infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks. The official accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan new attacks. Hamas militants and security forces quickly returned to the streets in recent weeks after the ceasefire went into effect.

Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said the “gates of hell will open in Gaza” if the hostages were not released. “We will not stop fighting until all of our hostages are home and we have achieved all of the war goals,” he said.

Talks on ceasefire second phase had stalled

Injured Palestinians including children and women are brought to the Al Nasser Hospital following airstrikes in Khan Younis on Tuesday.Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images

The strikes came two months after a ceasefire was reached to pause the war. Over six weeks, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners.

But since that ceasefire phase ended two weeks ago, the sides have not been able to agree on a way forward, with a second phase aimed at releasing the 59 remaining hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead, and ending the war altogether.

Hamas has demanded an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Israel says it will not end the war until it destroys Hamas’ governing and military capabilities and frees all hostages – two goals that could be incompatible.

Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday said Hamas had “repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the US presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators.”

A return to war would allow Netanyahu to avoid the tough trade-offs called for in the second phase of the agreement and the thorny question of who would govern Gaza. It would also shore up his coalition, which depends on far-right lawmakers who want to depopulate Gaza and re-build Jewish settlements there.

Gaza was already in a humanitarian crisis

The war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefires or other deals, with Israeli forces rescuing only eight and recovering dozens of bodies.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced an estimated 90 per cent of Gaza’s population.

A Palestinian woman sits amid the rubble of her home.Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images

The ceasefire had brought some relief to Gaza and allowed hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to what remained of their homes. A resumption of the war threatens to reverse any progress made in recent weeks towards halting the humanitarian crisis.

A renewed Israeli ground offensive could also be especially deadly now that so many Palestinian civilians have returned home. Before the ceasefire, civilians were largely concentrated in tent camps meant to provide relative safety from the fighting.

The return to fighting could also worsen deep internal fissures inside Israel over the fate of the remaining hostages. The released hostages, some of whom were emaciated, have repeatedly implored the government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining captives. Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken part in mass demonstrations calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages.

Mass demonstrations were planned later on Tuesday and Wednesday following Netanyahu’s announcement this week that he wanted to fire the head of Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, which critics have lambasted as an attempt to divert blame for his government’s failures in the October 7 attack and handling of the war.

Since the ceasefire in Gaza began in mid-January, Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians who the military says approached its troops or entered unauthorised areas.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate the next steps in the ceasefire.

Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas instead wants to follow the ceasefire deal reached by the two sides, which calls for negotiations to begin on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, in which the remaining hostages would be released and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.

AP

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