More than 200 Palestinians were killed, including many children, and more than 100 injured after Israel launched extensive airstrikes in Gaza early on Tuesday, Palestinian medics reported.
Early Tuesday morning, Israel’s Prime Minister’s office said it instructed the army to target Hamas across the Gaza strip. Strikes were reported to have hit targets in northern Gaza, Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah.
A statement issued blamed the strikes on Hamas’ refusal to release hostages held in the Gaza Strip, and its rejection of a truce deal Israel has claimed was proposed by US special envoy Steve Witkoff. Israel promised to use “increasing military force”.
Hamas condemned the latest raids, holding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for “unprovoked escalation” against Palestinians.
“We hold the criminal Netanyahu fully responsible for the consequences of the treacherous aggression on Gaza, the defenceless civilians and our Palestinian people,” the militant group said on Telegram.
Hamas warned the strikes breached the ceasefire and put the fate of the hostages in jeopardy.
“Netanyahu and his extremist government have decided to violate the ceasefire agreement and expose the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate,” the statement said.
The strikes come as the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is in a limbo. The first stage of the three-phase deal brokered by the US, Qatar, and Egypt started mid-January and ended on the first of March.
Negotiations on the second phase have not yet been hammered out.
Earlier on Monday, Israel launched attacks towards Gaza, southern Lebanon and southern Syria, killing at least ten people, according to local authorities.
The airstrikes were the latest in what have been frequent and often deadly attacks by Israeli forces during the fragile ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon.
‘This is unconscionable’ – UN humanitarian coordinator
Meanwhile a statement from the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Muhannad Hadi, in response to the airstrikes across Gaza described the attack as “unconscionable.”
“This is unconscionable. A ceasefire must be reinstated immediately,” Hadi says.
“People in Gaza have endured unimaginable suffering.”
