Israel launched new strikes against Hamas early on Tuesday and promised ‘increasing military force’ after talks on further hostage releases stalled.
Israel today unleashed its most intense strikes on the Gaza Strip since a January ceasefire, with rescuers reporting 220 people killed.
Hamas accused Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deciding to “resume war” after a deadlock on extending the truce.
The White House confirmed that Israel consulted United States President Donald Trump’s Administration before launching the strikes, which rescuers said killed mostly women, children and elderly.
Netanyahu’s office said the operation was ordered after “Hamas’ repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators”.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” said the statement.
Hamas accused Netanyahu of using the conflict as a political “lifeboat” to stay afloat amid domestic crises.
AFP footage showed people rushing stretchers with injured people, including young children, to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Bodies covered with white sheets were also taken to the hospital’s mortuary.
Mohammed Jarghoun, 36, was sleeping in a tent near his destroyed house in Khan Younis when he was woken by huge blasts.
“I thought they were dreams and nightmares, but I saw a fire in my relatives’ house. More than 20 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women.”
Ramez Alammarin, 25, described carrying children to hospital southeast of Gaza City.
“They unleashed the fire of hell again on Gaza,” he said of Israel, adding that “bodies and limbs are on the ground, and the wounded cannot find any doctor to treat them”.
“They bombed a building in the area and there are still martyrs and wounded under the rubble ... fear and terror. Death is better than life.”
A man walks through the rubble of a destroyed section of a school-turned-camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City today. Photo / AFP
‘Hell will break loose’
Mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the US, the initial phase of the ceasefire took effect on January 19, largely halting more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
That first phase ended in early March, and while both sides have since refrained from all-out war, they have been unable to agree on the next steps for truce talks.
Israel has also been carrying out near-daily strikes on Gaza, but not on the scale of today’s operation.
In a post on Telegram, the Israeli Army said it was “conducting extensive strikes on terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip”.
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported more than 220 people killed, “most of them children, women and the elderly”. At least 150 people were also wounded by the “aggression, aerial bombardment, and artillery shelling”.
Israel ordered all schools close to the regions neighbouring Gaza shut, as the Government said it would ramp up military action against Hamas.
Witkoff yesterday told CNN he had offered a “bridge proposal” that would see five living hostages, including Israeli-American Edan Alexander, released in return for freeing a “substantial amount of Palestinian prisoners” from Israel’s jails.
Hamas had said it was ready to free Alexander and the remains of four others.
Witkoff said Hamas had provided “an unacceptable response” and “the opportunity is closing fast”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump’s Administration had been consulted ahead of Israel’s Tuesday operation.
“As President Trump has made it clear, Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorise not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay - all hell will break loose,” she said in the televised interview.
Demonstrators raise placards and light flares during a protest this week calling for action to release the remaining hostages held captive in Gaza. Photo / AFP
Deadlock
During the first phase of the truce agreement, Hamas released 33 hostages, including eight who were deceased, and Israel freed around 1800 Palestinian detainees.
Since then, Hamas has consistently demanded negotiations for the second phase.
Former US president Joe Biden had outlined a second phase involving the release of remaining living hostages, the withdrawal of all Israeli forces left in Gaza, and the establishment of a lasting ceasefire.
Israel, however, seeks to extend the first phase until mid-April, insisting that any transition to the second phase must include “the total demilitarisation” of Gaza and the removal of Hamas, which has controlled the territory since 2007.
The talks have been stuck at an impasse, and Israel has cut aid and electricity to the territory during the deadlock.
“It’s so hard for me to think about what they’re [hostages] going through right now because I know that feeling,” freed Israeli captive Omer Shem Tov said in a recently released video.
“It’s a terrible feeling and it has to stop as soon as possible.”
Hamas’ October 7 attack resulted in 1218 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, while Israel’s retaliatory response in Gaza has killed at least 48,572 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.
