Israeli air strikes killed at least 200 Palestinians in Gaza on early Tuesday, health authorities said, as attacks hit dozens of targets across the enclave, ending a weeks-long standoff over extending the January ceasefire.
The strikes hit multiple locations, including northern Gaza, Gaza City, and the Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah areas in central and southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian health ministry officials said many of the dead were children.
Hamas accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire agreement while the Israeli military said the strikes, which it stated would continue and extend beyond air operations, targeted mid-level Hamas commanders and infrastructure.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, accusing Hamas of “repeated refusal to release our hostages” and rejecting proposals from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported its teams dealt with 86 killed and 134 wounded, while officials from several Gaza hospitals, all extensively damaged in the war, said they had received about 85 dead. Authorities separately reported 16 members of one family in Rafah had been killed.
In Gaza, witnesses said Israeli tanks shelled areas in Rafah, forcing many families who had returned to their homes after the January ceasefire to flee northward to Khan Younis.
The attacks were far wider in scale than the regular drone strikes Israel has conducted in recent weeks and follows failed efforts to agree an extension to the truce reached on January 19.
White House spokesperson Brian Hughes said Israel had consulted the U.S. administration before carrying out the strikes. “Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” Hughes said.
Negotiating teams from both sides had been in Doha as Egyptian and Qatari mediators sought to bridge differences after the initial ceasefire phase, which saw 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais returned in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel had been pressing for the return of the remaining 59 hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for a longer truce, while Hamas had insisted on negotiations for a permanent end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Among those killed was senior Hamas official Mohammad Al-Jmasi, a political office member, along with family members including his grandchildren. At least five senior Hamas officials were killed with members of their families, according to Hamas sources.
The Gaza conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel’s military campaign has since killed more than 48,000 Palestinians and destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
(with information from Reuters)
