Israel vows to fight on in Gaza after deadliest strikes since truce

Israel vowed yesterday to continue fighting in Gaza until all hostages are returned, as it unleashed its most intense strikes since a ceasefire. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory reports that more than 400 people have been killed.

Hamas accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deciding to “resume war” after an impasse in truce negotiations, and warned that the return to fighting could be a “death sentence” for hostages still alive in Gaza.

The strikes were by far the biggest and deadliest since a truce took effect in January.

Netanyahu warned Hamas this month of consequences it “cannot imagine” if it does not free hostages still in Gaza, and Israeli media reported on plans aimed at ramping up pressure on Hamas dubbed the “Hell Plan”.

The White House says Israel consulted United States (US) president Donald Trump’s administration before launching the wave of strikes, which the health ministry in Gaza said killed mostly women and children.

Netanyahu’s office said the operation was ordered after “Hamas’ repeated refusal to release 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,” a statement notes.

“We will not stop fighting as long as the hostages are not returned home and all our war aims are not achieved,” defence minister Israel Katz says.

Apart from the release of the remaining hostages, Israel’s other main war aim is to crush Hamas.

In a statement, Hamas says Israel had “decided to overturn the ceasefire agreement”.

“Netanyahu’s decision to resume war is a decision to sacrifice the occupation’s prisoners and impose a death sentence on them.”

Hamas says the head of its government in Gaza, Essam al Dalis, was among several officials killed in the strikes.

A Hamas official says the group was “working with mediators” to stop the bombardment, while the movement blamed what it described as “unlimited” US support for Israel for the deadly strikes.

In Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, AFP footage showed people rushing stretchers with wounded people, including young children, to the Nasser Hospital. 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 Yunis 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) describes carrying children to hospital south-east of Gaza City. “They unleashed the fire of hell again on Gaza,” he says of Israel, adding that “bodies and limbs are on the ground, and the wounded cannot find any doctor to treat them”.

Families of Israeli hostages in Gaza pleaded with Netanyahu to “stop the killing and disappearance” of their loved ones, and called for a protest in front of the premier’s residence.

Brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US, the initial phase of the ceasefire took effect on 19 January, largely halting more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

That first phase ended in early March, and the two sides have been unable to agree on the next steps.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the bodies of 413 people had been received by Gaza hospitals. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and work is under way to recover them.”

During the first phase of the truce, Hamas released 33 hostages, including eight deceased, and Israel freed around 1 800 Palestinian detainees.

Since then, Hamas has consistently demanded negotiations for the second phase.

Israel, however, seeks to extend the first phase until mid-April, insisting any transition to the second phase must include “the total demilitarisation” of Gaza and the removal of Hamas.

The talks have been deadlocked, and Israel has cut aid and electricity to the territory.

United Nations (UN) secretary general Antonio Guterres was “shocked” by the renewed strikes, a spokeswoman says, while UN rights chief Volker Turk says he was “horrified”.

Both Russia and China warned against an escalation, while Egypt and Turkey condemned the violence.

Egypt yesterday said Israel’s deadly air strikes on the Gaza Strip were part of a bid to “force” the territory’s Palestinian residents into displacement.

Egypt, which alongside Qatar and the US helped mediate the truce in the Israel-Hamas war that took effect in January, condemned the strikes, branding them a “flagrant violation” of the truce.

A statement from the office of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al Sisi said the strikes were part of “deliberate efforts to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and force the Palestinians into displacement”.