Surprise bombardment shatters ceasefire with Hamas in place since Jan
Deir Al-Blah (Gaza Strip): Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing at least 404 Palestinians, including women and children, according to hospital officials.
The surprise bombardment shattered a ceasefire in place since January and threatened to fully reignite the 17-month-old war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after Hamas refused Israeli demands to change the ceasefire agreement. 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.
The attack during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could resume a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised questions about the fate of the roughly two dozen Israeli hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.
A senior Hamas official said Netanyahu’s decision to return to war amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages.
Izzat al-Risheq accused Netanyahu of launching the strikes to try and save his far-right governing coalition and called on mediators to “reveal facts” on who broke the truce. Hamas said at least four senior officials were killed in Tuesday’s strikes. There were no reports of any attacks by Hamas several hours after the bombardment.
The strikes came as Netanyahu comes under mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests planned over his handling of the hostage crisis and his decision to fire the head of Israel’s internal security agency. His latest testimony in a long-running corruption trial was cancelled after the strikes.
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.
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.
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 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 told the AP by phone from Gaza City. “Everyone is still suffering from the previous months,” he said.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 404 people were killed in the strikes and more than 560 had been wounded. It revised its confirmed count after saying earlier Tuesday that 413 were dead and 660 wounded. Rescuers were still searching the rubble for dead and wounded as the strikes continued. It was among the deadliest days of the war.
The White House sought to blame Hamas for the renewed fighting. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group “could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war”.
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.
