Israeli strikes kill 326 in Gaza, collapsing ceasefire with Hamas

Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza, killing 326 people, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday, collapsing a two-month ceasefire with Hamas as Israel vowed to use force to free its remaining hostages in the strip.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had instructed the military to take “strong action” against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza in response to the group’s refusal to release hostages held there and rejection of ceasefire proposals.

“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” his office said in a statement.

Hamas accused Israel of overturning the hard-fought ceasefire deal agreed in January, leaving the fate of 59 hostages still held in Gaza uncertain.

Strikes in Gaza were reported in multiple locations. Officials from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said many of the dead were children.

In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets smeared with blood could be seen stacked up as casualties were brought in.

The Israeli military said it hit dozens of targets, and that the attacks would continue for as long as necessary and extend beyond airstrikes, raising the prospect that Israeli ground troops could resume fighting.

The United Nations’ Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory urged for the ceasefire in Gaza to be immediately reinstated.

“Waves of airstrikes occurred across the Gaza strip since the early hours of the morning … This is unconscionable,” Muhannad Hadi said in a statement.

Israeli media said Israel was opening shelters in multiple areas in commercial hub Tel Aviv to prepare for possible retaliation from Hamas or Yemen.

Israel’s renewed intense pressure on Hamas came as tensions flared elsewhere in the Middle East, which has seen the Gaza war spread to Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.

Negotiating teams from Israel and Hamas had been in Doha as mediators from Egypt and Qatar sought to bridge the gap between the two sides after 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 hostages in exchange for a longer-term truce to halt fighting until after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday in April.

However, Hamas has insisted 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.

Each side has accused the other of failing to respect the terms of the January ceasefire agreement. But until now, a full return to the fighting had been avoided.

The army did not provide details about the strikes carried out in the early hours of Tuesday but 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.

Much of Gaza now lies in ruins after 15 months of fighting, which erupted on October 7, 2023 when thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israeli communities around the enclave, killing some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and abducting 251 hostages into Gaza.

The Israeli campaign in response has killed more than 48,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and destroyed much of the housing and infrastructure in the enclave, including the hospital system.