Israel “resumed fighting in force” against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening.
In a provocative video declaration, he warned that “negotiations would only continue under fire” and that “this is only the beginning”.
His comments occurred after Israeli aircraft launched massive air strikes against what the military said that Hamas targets in Gaza.
More than 400 people were killed in the attacks, said the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas, and Hundreds of others injured.
The wave of strikes was the heaviest since a ceasefire started on January 19.
The fragile truce had mainly held so far, but this new wave of attacks suggests that plans for a permanent end of war could be outside the table.
Air strikes that hit Beit Lahia, Rafah, Nuseirat and Al-Mawasi Tuesday, broke the relative peace that Gazans have known since January, and hospitals are again invaded by victims.
The attacks on Gaza were condemned by Egypt, a mediator in talks.
The air strikes are “a blatant violation” of the cease-fire agreement and represent “a dangerous escalation,” said Tamim Khallaf, spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry.
“The attacks were so sudden that the number of available medical staff members was inadequate for the magnitude of these large strikes, and additional teams were immediately called to help,” BBC Arabic Mohammed Zaquot, general manager of the Gaza Strip, told BBC.
In his speech, Netanyahu said that Israel had tried to negotiate with Hamas to release Israeli hostages still detained in Gaza. He accused Hamas of having rejected the proposals each time.
Israel and Hamas have disagreed on how to advance the cease-fire agreement since the first phase expired in early March, after numerous exchanges of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The agreement includes three stages, and negotiations on the second stage should have started six weeks ago – but that did not happen.
Instead, the agreement was put in uncertainty when the United States and Israel wanted to modify the terms of the agreement, to extend the first step which would see more hostages published.
This would have delayed the start of phase two, which was to establish a permanent cease-fire and forced Israeli troops to withdraw from Gaza.
But Hamas rejected this project to modify the agreement negotiated by us, Qatari and the Egyptian mediators, unacceptable calling on it.
Netanyahu on Tuesday evening said that Israel would continue to fight to achieve all of her war goals – “to return hostages, make sure of Hamas and make sure that Hamas is not a threat to Israel”.
The administration of American president Donald Trump was consulted by Israel before carrying out strikes, officials said.
The spokesman for the US National Security Council Brian Hughes said: “Hamas could have released hostages to prolong the ceasefire, but rather chose refusal and war.”
Hamas warned that the resumption of violence by Israel “would impose a death sentence” on the remaining hostages held in Gaza, and accused Israel of trying to force it to go.
Addressing the BBC about attacks, Dr. Sabrina Das, an obstetrician who leads Palestinian doctors from the south of Gaza, said: “It was very sudden … The mood of everyone was broken because we knew it was again the start of the war.”
Dr. Das said that his colleagues at Nasar hospital were “overnight to operate” because “mass victims had started to come back”.
A group representing the hostage families accused the Israeli government of choosing “to abandon hostages” by launching new strikes – and protested outside the Israeli Parliament.
The news of the strikes has terrified some of the families of Israeli hostages who are still detained by Hamas.
“The Israeli government is not perfect, and Israel is not enough, because my brothers are not at home,” said Liran Berman, whose twin brothers are still detained in Gaza, BBC.
“But if Hamas wanted, the hostages would be back. They are in their hands.”
Israel says that Hamas still holds 59 hostages, 24 of which are considered alive.
Getty imagesThe war was launched when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and bringing 251 to Gaza as captives.
Israel responded with a massive military offensive, which killed more than 48,500 Palestinians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Hamas in Gaza, and caused enormous destruction to houses and infrastructure.
