Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing at the least 404 Palestinians, including women and kids, in line with hospital officials. The surprise bombardment shattered a ceasefire in place since January and threatened to completely reignite the 17-month-old war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after Hamas refused Israeli demands to vary 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 middle of the territory, indicating that Israel could soon launch renewed ground operations.
“Israel will, any more, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The attack throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could resume a conflict that has already killed tens of hundreds of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised questions on the fate of the roughly two dozen Israeli hostages held by Hamas who’re believed to still be alive.
A senior Hamas official said Netanyahu’s decision to return to conflict amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages. Izzat al-Risheq accused Netanyahu of launching the strikes to attempt to save his far-right governing coalition and called on mediators to “reveal facts” on who broke the truce. Hamas said at the least 4 senior officials were killed in Tuesday’s strikes.
There have been no reports of any attacks by Hamas several hours after the bombardment, indicating it still hoped to revive the truce.
The strikes got here as Netanyahu comes under mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests planned over his handling of the hostage crisis and his decision to fireplace the top of Israel’s internal security agency. His latest testimony in a long-running corruption trial was canceled after the strikes.
The fundamental group representing families of the captives accused the federal government of backing out of the ceasefire, saying it “selected to present up on the hostages.”
“We’re shocked, offended and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the method to return our family members from the terrible captivity of Hamas,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in an announcement.
Palestinians inspect the damage at Al-Tabi’in School in central Gaza Strip following an Israeli airstrike, Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi
Wounded stream into Gaza hospitals
A strike on a house within the southern city of Rafah killed 17 members of 1 family, including at the least 12 women and kids, in line with the European Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included five children, their parents, and one other father and his three children.
Within 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 ground, some screaming. A young girl cried as her bloody arm was bandaged.
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Many Palestinians said that they had expected a return to conflict when talks over the second phase of the ceasefire didn’t begin as scheduled in early February. Israel as a substitute embraced another proposal and cut off all shipments of food, fuel and other aid to the territory’s 2 million Palestinians to attempt to pressure Hamas to simply accept it.
“No person desires to fight,” Palestinian resident Nidal Alzaanin told the AP by phone from Gaza City. “Everyone remains to be affected by the previous months,” he said.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said at the least 404 people were killed within the strikes and greater 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 because the strikes continued. It was among the many deadliest days of the war.
U.S. backs Israel and blames Hamas
The White House sought accountable Hamas for the renewed fighting. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group “could have released hostages to increase the ceasefire but as a substitute selected refusal and war.”
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to debate the unfolding operation, said Israel was striking Hamas’ military, leaders and infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks. The official accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan recent attacks. Hamas militants and security forces quickly returned to the streets in recent weeks after the ceasefire went into effect.
Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader held security consultations with senior officials. It didn’t provide further details.
Talks on a second phase of the ceasefire had stalled
The strikes got here two months after a ceasefire was reached to pause the war. Over six weeks, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in a primary phase of the ceasefire.
But since that ceasefire ended two weeks ago, the perimeters haven’t been in a position to agree on a way forward with a second phase aimed toward releasing the 59 remaining hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead, and ending the conflict altogether.
Hamas has demanded an end to the conf;ict and full withdrawal of Israeli troops in exchange for the discharge of the remaining hostages. Israel says it is going to not end the conflict until it destroys Hamas’ governing and military capabilities and frees all hostages — two goals that may very well be incompatible.
Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday said Hamas had “repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the U.S. presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators.”
Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to barter an enduring truce. Hamas as a substitute desires to follow the ceasefire deal reached by the 2 sides, which calls for negotiations to start on the ceasefire’s harder second phase, wherein the remaining hostages can be released and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.
A return to conflict would allow Netanyahu to avoid the tough trade-offs called for within the second phase of the agreement and the thorny query of who would govern Gaza. It could also shore up his coalition, which will depend on far-right lawmakers who wish to depopulate Gaza and re-build Jewish settlements there.
Gaza already was in a humanitarian crisis
The conflict erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefires or other deals, with israeli forces rescuing only eight and recovering dozens of bodies.
Israel responded with a military offensive that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, in line with local health officials, and displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza’s population. The territory’s Health Ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and militants, but says over half of the dead have been women and kids.
The ceasefire had brought some relief to Gaza and allowed tons of of hundreds of displaced Palestinians to resume to what remained of their homes.
Netanyahu faces mounting criticism
The released hostages, a few of whom were emaciated, have repeatedly implored the federal government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining captives. Tens of hundreds of Israelis have taken part in mass demonstrations calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages.
Mass demonstrations are planned later Tuesday and Wednesday following Netanyahu’s announcement this week that he wants to fireplace the top of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency. Critics have lambasted the move as an attempt by Netanyahu to divert blame for his government’s failures within the Oct. 7 attack and handling of the war.
For the reason that ceasefire in Gaza began in mid-January, Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians who the military says approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas.
Still, the deal has tenuously held without an outbreak of wide violence. Egypt, Qatar and the USA have been attempting to mediate the subsequent steps within the ceasefire.
Federman reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press reporters Mohammad Jahjouh in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip; Abdel Kareem Hana in Gaza City, Gaza Strip; Fatma Khaled in Cairo; and Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed.
