Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed at least 200 people, Palestinian health authorities reported. The attacks hit dozens of targets early on Tuesday, ending a weeks-long standoff. This standoff concerned extending the ceasefire that halted fighting in January.
Strikes occurred in multiple locations. These locations included northern Gaza, Gaza City, and Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah in the central and southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian health ministry officials said many children were among the dead.
The Israeli military said it hit dozens of targets. They said the strikes would continue for as long as necessary and would extend beyond air strikes. This raises the prospect that Israeli ground troops could resume fighting.
The attacks were far wider in scale than the regular series of drone strikes. The Israeli military has said it conducted these strikes against individuals or small groups of suspected militants. These strikes follow weeks of failed efforts to agree on an extension to the truce agreed on January 19.
Piles of bodies in white plastic sheets smeared with blood were visible in hospitals. These hospitals, strained by 15 months of bombardment, received casualties.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams dealt with 86 killed and 134 wounded. Private cars brought others to overwhelmed hospitals.
Officials from Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza Strip, and Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City said they had received around 85 dead. These hospitals have all been extensively damaged in the war. Authorities also reported separately that 16 members of one family in Rafah had been killed.
A spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry said the death toll was at least 200.
Hamas said Israel had overturned the ceasefire agreement. This leaves the fate of 59 hostages still held in Gaza uncertain.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of “repeated refusal to release our hostages” and rejecting proposals from U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” it said in a statement.
In Washington, a White House spokesperson said Israel had consulted the U.S. administration before it carried out the strikes. The military said the strikes targeted mid-level Hamas commanders and leadership officials as well as infrastructure belonging to the militant group.
“Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” White House spokesperson Brian Hughes said.
In Gaza, witnesses contacted by Reuters said Israeli tanks shelled areas in Rafah. This forced many families who had returned to their areas after the ceasefire began to leave their homes and head northward to Khan Younis.
Negotiating teams from Israel and Hamas had been in Doha. Mediators from Egypt and Qatar sought to bridge the gap between the two sides. This followed the end of an initial phase in the ceasefire, which saw 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais returned by militant groups in Gaza in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
With the backing of the United States, Israel had been pressing for the return of the remaining 59 hostages still held in Gaza. They wanted this in exchange for a longer-term truce. The truce would have halted fighting until after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday in April.
However Hamas had been insisting on moving to 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 mediators hold Netanyahu and the Zionist occupation fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement,” the group said.
Each side has accused the other of failing to respect the terms of the January ceasefire agreement. There were multiple hiccups during the course of the first phase. But until now, a full return to the fighting had been avoided.
Israel had blocked deliveries of aid from entering Gaza. It had threatened on numerous occasions to resume fighting if Hamas did not agree to return the hostages it still holds.
The army did not provide details about the strikes carried out in the early hours of Tuesday. Palestinian health authorities and witnesses contacted by Reuters reported damage in numerous areas of Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are living in makeshift shelters or damaged buildings.
A building in Gaza City, in the northern end of the strip was hit. At least three houses were hit in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. In addition, the strikes hit targets in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, according to medics and witnesses.
Among those killed was senior Hamas official Mohammad Al-Jmasi, a member of the political office, and members of his family. Hamas sources and relatives said his grandchildren were in his house in Gaza City when an airstrike hit it. In all, at least five senior Hamas officials were killed along with members of their families.
Much of Gaza now lies in ruins after 15 months of fighting. The fighting erupted on October 7, 2023. Thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip. They killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and abducted 251 hostages into Gaza.
The Israeli campaign in response has killed more than 48,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. It has destroyed much of the housing and infrastructure in the enclave, including the hospital system.
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