JERUSALEM/CAIRO : Israeli air strikes pounded Gaza and killed more than 400 people, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday, in an onslaught across the enclave that ended weeks of relative calm after talks to secure a permanent ceasefire stalled.
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas each accused the other of breaching the truce, which had broadly held since Jan, offering respite from war for the 2 million inhabitants of Gaza, where most buildings have been reduced to rubble. Hamas, which still holds 59 of the 250 or so hostages Israel says the group seized in its Oct 7, 2023 attack, accused Israel of jeopardising efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting, but the group made no threat of retaliation.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure a ceasefire extension during faltering talks. “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” the PM’s office said in a statement.
The strikes hit houses and tent encampments from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip, and Israeli tanks shelled from across the border line, witnesses said. Gaza’s Hamasrun health ministry said 404 people had been killed in one of the biggest single-day tolls since the war erupted. Families in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip and eastern areas of Khan Younis in the south fled their homes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders warning the areas were “dangerous combat zones”. UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said the “modest gains” made during the ceasefire had been destroyed. He said humanitarian aid and commercial essentials must be allowed to enter Gaza. Israel has halted aid deliveries into Gaza for over two weeks, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis.
Bodies stacked up
Former hostages and families of some still held in Gaza expressed outrage over the strikes. Released hostage Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two sons were slain in captivity, said: “Military pressure endangers hostages, an agreement brings them back.” In Gaza, witnesses said Israeli tanks shelled areas in Rafah. Bewildered children sat next to bagged-up belongings, ready to flee again. In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets smeared with blood were stacked up as casualties were brought in. The health ministry said many of the dead were children, and 562 people were injured.
Truce standoff
Israel had been pressing for the return of remaining hostages in exchange for a truce until after Ramzan and Jewish Passover holiday. However, Hamas has insisted on moving to negotiations for a permanent end to the war and full withdrawal of Israeli forces. The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 people, say Palestinian health authorities, and destroyed much of infrastructure in the enclave.
