Israel’s military said it was conducting “extensive strikes on terror targets” in Gaza early on Tuesday, with officials there reporting at least 30 deaths in the most intense airstrikes since the 19 January ceasefire began.
An unnamed senior Hamas official told Reuters that Israel was “unilaterally” ending the ceasefire.
Medics reported that at least 30 people had been killed. The Palestinian civil emergency service said Israel carried out at least 35 airstrikes across the Gaza Strip. In Gaza City, medics reported that at least eight Palestinians, including children, had been killed.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not provide more details about the strikes but prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement cited by Israeli media that the attacks had “the goal of achieving the war objectives as determined by the political leadership, including the release of all our hostages – both the living and the fallen”.
“This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages and its rejection of all the proposals it received from US president’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators,” the statement said.
Three houses were hit in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, a building in Gaza City, and targets in Khan Younis and Rafah, according to medics and witnesses.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement ended two weeks ago but Israel has refused to implement the scheduled second phase, which is supposed to end with its withdrawal from Gaza, the freedom of all remaining hostages held by Hamas, and a definitive end to the conflict.
It has also blocked all aid to Gaza over the past two weeks, in violation of the ceasefire deal, in a bid to force Hamas to accept its demands. The move has been condemned by countries including the UK, France and Germany.
Hamas has said that it would only release hostages if Israel lifted its blockade, withdrew from a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt and freed more Palestinian prisoners.
More details soon …
With Reuters
