The Israeli army launched a large-scale attack in Gaza overnight killing over 400 Palestinians, including scores of women and children, according to local media.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 562 others were injured in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, breaking a ceasefire that lasted nearly two months.
The Israeli attacks hit densely-populated urban areas, makeshift schools, residential buildings and areas sheltering displaced people in tents.
“Many victims are still under the rubble and efforts are underway to recover them,” the ministry added in a statement.
The Gaza Government Media Office said entire families were among the victims, who were killed together in the Israeli attacks, noting that ambulances and civil defence teams are unable to bring all victims to hospitals.
“These brutal massacres confirm once again that the Israeli occupation army only knows the language of killing, destruction, and genocide,” the statement said.
It added that the resumption of the massacres in Gaza comes along with the ongoing suffocating siege imposed on Gaza and the complete closure of the crossings, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and depriving over 2.4 million Palestinians of basic necessities.
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The media office urged the international community, including the UN Security Council and rights groups, to break the state of inaction and immediately act to ensure an end to these massacres in Gaza.
Hamas said the Israeli government has declared war on Gaza by breaking the ceasefire agreement.
“Netanyahu and his Nazi government resume their aggression and genocidal war against defenseless civilians in the Gaza Strip.
“We hold the criminal Netanyahu and the Nazi-zionist occupation fully responsible for the repercussions of the treacherous aggression on Gaza, and for the defenceless civilians and our besieged Palestinian people, who are subjected to a brutal war and a systematic policy of starvation.
“Netanyahu and his extremist government have decided to overturn the ceasefire agreement, exposing the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate.
“We demand that the mediators hold Netanyahu and the Zionist occupation fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement.
“We call on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to assume their historical responsibility in supporting the steadfastness and valiant resistance of our Palestinian people, and in breaking the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
“We call on the United Nations and the UN Security Council to convene urgently to adopt a resolution obligating the occupation to halt its aggression and abide by Resolution 2735, which calls for an end to the aggression and withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip.”
“Based on directives from the political echelon, IDF and Shin Bet forces are launching a large-scale attack on Hamas terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have instructed the army to take “strong action” against Hamas in Gaza, the Prime Ministry’s Office said.
“This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators,” it said in a statement.
The army is attacking Hamas targets in the Strip “to achieve the objectives of the war as they have been determined by the political echelon, including the release of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased.”
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength. The operational plan was presented by the IDF over the weekend and approved by the political leadership,” it added.
A White House spokesperson confirmed Monday that Israel consulted with the U.S. on its airstrikes in Gaza.
“As President (Donald) Trump has made it clear: Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorise not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,” Karoline Leavitt told Fox News.
Ahead of a meeting Tuesday of the UN Security Council on Gaza, Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said the country will show “no mercy” against its enemies.
“Let me be very clear: Israel will not stop until all of our hostages are back home. We will make it very clear to the Security Council that if they want to stop the war in Gaza, they have to ensure that the hostages are coming back to Israel,” Danon said.
Despite the ceasefire, local authorities in Gaza had reported almost daily violations by the Israeli army.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 48,500 Palestinians since October 2023, most of them women and children, and left Gaza in ruins.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November last year for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
