By James Mackenzie, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza and killed more than 400 people on Tuesday, Palestinian health authorities said, shattering nearly two months of relative calm since a ceasefire began, as Israel warned the onslaught was “just the beginning.”
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas accused each other of breaching the truce. It had broadly held since January and offered respite from war for the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas, which still holds 59 of the 250 or so hostages Israel says the group seized in its October 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 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure a ceasefire extension.
Netanyahu called on Gazans to get out of harm’s way and move to safer areas, blaming every civilian casualty on Hamas.
“From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing force. And from now on, negotiations will only take place under fire,” he said, speaking from the Kirya army base in Tel Aviv.
“Hamas has already felt the blow of our arm in the last 24 hours. And I want to assure you: This is just the beginning.”
The strikes hit houses and tent encampments from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip. Witnesses said an Israeli plane fired missiles into Gaza City late on Tuesday.
Israeli tanks shelled from across the border, witnesses said. Palestinian health authorities said 408 people had been killed in one of the biggest single-day tolls since the war erupted.
“It was a night of hell. It felt like the first days of the war,” said Rabiha Jamal, 65, a mother of five from Gaza City.
EVACUATION ORDERS
Families in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip and eastern areas of Khan Younis in the south fled their homes. Carrying belongings, some were on foot, others in cars or rickshaws after the Israeli military ordered them to evacuate from what it said were “dangerous combat zones”.
Egypt and Qatar, mediators in the ceasefire deal along with the U.S., condemned the Israeli assault, while the European Union said in a statement it deplored the breakdown of the ceasefire.
The U.N. emergency relief coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said the “modest gains” made during the ceasefire had been destroyed.
Israel has halted aid deliveries into Gaza for more than two weeks, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis.
However, Dorothy Shea, acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the blame for the resumption of Gaza hostilities “lies solely with Hamas” and expressed support for Israel in its next steps.
“Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said.
BODIES STACKED UP
Former hostages and the families of some still held in Gaza expressed outrage over the resumption of war.
Released hostage Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two young sons were slain in captivity, said on Facebook that Israel’s return to fighting brought him back to Gaza, where he feared for his life. “Military pressure endangers hostages, an agreement brings them back,” he said
In Gaza, witnesses told Reuters Israeli tanks shelled areas in Rafah in the south. Bewildered children sat next to bags of belongings, ready to flee.
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 wounded.
Among the Hamas officials killed in the airstrikes were Essam Addalees, the de facto head of the Hamas government, Ahmed Al-Hetta, deputy justice minister, and Mahmoud Abu Watfa, the head of the Hamas-run security services, Hamas said.
As Israel launched its operation in Gaza, its forces have pressed on with an operation in the occupied West Bank and Israeli jets have struck targets in southern Lebanon and Syria in recent days.
TRUCE STANDOFF
Negotiating teams from Israel and Hamas had been in Doha as mediators sought to bridge the gap between the two sides after the end of an initial phase in the ceasefire, which saw 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais released in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel had been pressing for the return of the remaining hostages in exchange for a truce until after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday in April.
On Tuesday, Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua told Reuters the group was still in touch with mediators, and it was keen to complete the implementation of the original deal.
Qanoua said the group remained committed to proceeding with the ceasefire agreement as signed, accusing Israel of turning against the deal by refusing to begin talks on the second phase and by suspending the entry of aid and goods into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 people, say Palestinian health authorities.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Enas Alashray and Yomna Ehab and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo, Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan and Clauda Tanios in Dubai and Alex Cornwell, Maayan Lubell and Emily Rose in Jerusalem; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason and David Brunnstrom in Washington and Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; Writing by Enas Alashray, James Mackenzie, Michael Georgy and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Sharon Singleton, Ros Russell, Alex Richardson and Cynthia Osterman)
