Israel launches heaviest assault on Gaza since January ceasefire, at least 330 people killed

Residents look at the remains of their homes, destroyed in an Israeli strike, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday. (Courtesy: AFP photo)

Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, with Gaza Health Ministry saying it left at least 330 dead. According to Israeli Defence Forces, it was striking dozens of Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January.

Airstrikes were reported in multiple locations, including northern Gaza, Gaza City and the Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah in central and southern Gaza Strip. As per Palestinian health ministry officials, many of the dead were children.

"The health ministry has recorded more than 330 deaths, most of them Palestinian women and children, and hundreds of wounded, dozens of them in critical condition," the head of the ministry, Mohammed Zaqut, told AFP.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in ongoing talks to extend the ceasefire. "This comes after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the US presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators," Netanyahu's office said.

"Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," it added.

Condemning the 'unprovoked escalation', Hamas said Israel had put the fate of the hostages in jeopardy. "The international community faces a moral test: Either it allows the return of the crimes committed by the occupation army or it enforces a commitment to ending the aggression and war against innocent people in Gaza," Hamas official Taher Nunu said criticising the attacks.

It was in January that a ceasefire was reached to pause the war, which brought some relief to Gaza. Hamas released roughly three dozen hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners over a period of six weeks. But since the first phase of the ceasefire ended two weeks ago, both sides have not been able to agree on a way forward with a second phase aimed at releasing the nearly 60 remaining hostages and ending the war altogether.

While the ceasefire largely halted the fighting, Israel has left troops in Gaza throughout the past two months and continued to strike targets, claiming that Palestinians were trying to carry out attacks or approaching troops in no-go zones.

The war erupted with Hamas' October 7, 2023 cross-border attack, which killed around 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel responded with a military offensive that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza's population.

Israel Katz, Israeli defense minister, warned that the 'gates of hell will open in Gaza' if the hostages aren't released. "We will not stop fighting until all of our hostages are home and we have achieved all of the war goals," he said.

Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas instead wants to follow the ceasefire deal reached by the two sides, which calls for negotiations to begin on the ceasefire's more difficult second phase, in which the remaining hostages would be released and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.

Meanwhile, Israel seized a zone in Syria after the fall of longtime autocrat Bashar Assad in December. Israel says it is a preemptive security measure against the former Islamist insurgents who now run Syria, though their transitional government has not expressed threats against Israel.

Strikes in the southern Syrian city of Daraa killed three people and wounded 19 others, including four children, a woman and three civil defense volunteers, the Syrian civil defense agency said. It said two ambulances were damaged. Other strikes hit military positions near the city.

The Israeli military said it was targeting military command centers and sites in southern Syria that contained weapons and vehicles belonging to Assad's forces. It said the materials' presence posed a threat to Israel.

-With inputs from agencies