Israel Airstrikes in Gaza Kill at Least 330. Israeli air strikes pounded Gaza, killing 330 people, Palestinian health officials said on Tuesday, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas as Israel vowed to use force to free its remaining hostages in the strip.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas issued a statement accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the army to take “strong action” against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, in response to the group’s refusal to release the hostages and its rejection of ceasefire proposals.
Israel will now increase its military force against Hamas, his office said in a statement.
Hamas accused Israel of ending a tough ceasefire deal reached in January, leaving the fate of 59 hostages still held in Gaza uncertain.
The strikes were reported in several locations, including northern Gaza, Gaza City and Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis and Rafah in the central and southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian health ministry officials said most of the dead were children.
The Israeli military, which said it hit dozens of targets, said the strikes would continue for as long as necessary and would go beyond air strikes, raising the possibility that Israeli ground forces could resume fighting.
The strikes were far more widespread than the regular series of drone strikes that the Israeli military has said it has carried out against individuals or small groups of suspected militants and came after weeks of failed attempts to agree to an extension to a ceasefire agreed on January 19.
In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombing, piles of bodies covered in blood-soaked white plastic sheets could be seen as the dead were brought in.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams had treated 86 dead and 134 wounded, but others were brought to overwhelmed hospitals in private cars.
Officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza Strip and Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said they had seen a total of around 85 dead.
Authorities also separately reported that 16 members of the same family had been killed in Rafah in southern Gaza.
A spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll was at least 200. Hamas said Israel had ended the ceasefire agreement, leaving the fate of 59 people held hostage in Gaza uncertain.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of “repeatedly refusing to release our hostages” and rejecting proposals from US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
It said in a statement that “Israel will now increase its military force against Hamas.”
In Washington, a White House spokesman said Israel had consulted with the US administration before carrying out the strikes, which the military said targeted Hamas’ mid-level commanders and leadership, as well as infrastructure belonging to the militant group.
White House spokesman Brian Hughes said Hamas could have released the hostages to extend the ceasefire but chose instead to refuse and fight.
In Gaza, witnesses told Reuters that Israeli tanks shelled the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, forcing many families who had returned to their areas after the ceasefire began to flee their homes and head north to Khan Younis.
Standoff
Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams were in Doha as mediators from Egypt and Qatar sought to bridge the gap between the two sides after the collapse of an initial phase of the ceasefire, in which 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai nationals were returned by militant groups in Gaza in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
With US support, Israel had been pushing for the return of 59 hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for a long-term ceasefire that would have halted fighting until after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday in April.
Hamas, however, has insisted on moving towards negotiations for a permanent end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza in accordance with the terms of the original ceasefire agreement.
“We demand that the mediator hold Netanyahu and the Zionist occupation fully responsible for violating and terminating the agreement,” the group said.
Each side has accused the other of failing to respect the terms of the January ceasefire agreement, and there were several hiccups during the first phase. But so far, a full return to fighting has been avoided.
Israel has blocked aid deliveries to Gaza and has threatened on several occasions to resume fighting if Hamas does not agree to return hostages it holds.
The military did not provide details about the attacks carried out early Tuesday, but Palestinian health officials and witnesses contacted by Reuters reported damage in several ar
