Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza hard on Tuesday, killing more than 400 people, according to Palestinian health officials. This attack has put a two-month ceasefire in jeopardy as Israel promised to intensify its efforts to free hostages held by Hamas.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that is holding 59 of the 250 hostages taken during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, accused Israel of breaking the ceasefire and threatening ongoing peace talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the military to take “strong action” against Hamas because they refused to release the hostages and rejected ceasefire proposals.
The Israeli military described the strikes as a “preemptive offensive” meant to weaken Hamas’ ability to attack Israel and stop them from rebuilding their forces. Israel targeted mid-ranking commanders, leadership figures, and Hamas infrastructure.
The airstrikes also destroyed homes and tents where civilians lived, stretching from the north to the south of Gaza. Israeli tanks fired into Gaza from the border, CNN reports.
“It was a night of hell. It felt like the first days of the war,” said Rabiha Jamal, a 65-year-old mother of five from Gaza City. “We were preparing to eat before fasting began when the building shook and explosions started. We thought it was over, but the war is back.”
Netanyahu has pledged to eliminate Hamas. Though the group has been weakened by ongoing airstrikes and ground offensives, it still holds power in Gaza.
One volunteer doctor with Medical Aid for Palestinians described the moment casualties started arriving at Nasser hospital, in the territory’s south:
“It’s nuts here, we woke up to an airstrike frenzy. The windows were shaking, the doors flew open, it was non-stop and then within about 10 minutes we started hearing the sirens. The patients have been flowing in ever since,” Dr. Tanya-Haj Hassan said.
“I finally made it up to the intensive care unit, I’m in the paediatric intensive care unit where we usually don’t care for trauma cases but there are so many paediatric trauma cases that all the PICU beds are full now.”
“The ER [emergency room] was just chaos, patients everywhere on the floor. There were probably three men and the rest were all children, women, elderly, everybody caught in their sleep, still wrapped in blankets. Terrifying. A level of horror and evil that its really hard to articulate. It felt like Armageddon,” Hassan said.
The situation has caused tensions in other parts of the Middle East, with the Gaza conflict spreading to Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq. Israeli media reported that Tel Aviv opened shelters in case of retaliation from Hamas or groups in Yemen.
The airstrikes marked a major escalation from Israel’s recent drone strikes targeting militants, coming after weeks of failed attempts to extend the ceasefire agreed to in January.
Hospitals in Gaza, overwhelmed by 15 months of fighting, are overflowing with casualties. Palestinian health officials said 404 people died in one of the deadliest days since the war began. Among the dead, many were children, and 562 others were injured.
Israel has stopped sending aid into Gaza for over two weeks, worsening the humanitarian crisis.
The Israeli military warned that the airstrikes could soon be followed by ground operations, suggesting that Israeli troops might return to Gaza.
In addition to the Gaza operations, Israel has continued actions in the occupied West Bank against Iranian-backed groups, and Israeli jets recently hit targets in southern Lebanon and Syria, expanding their military operations.
Diplomatic efforts to resume talks are still ongoing. Teams from Israel and Hamas met in Doha, with mediators from Egypt and Qatar trying to find common ground after the ceasefire’s initial phase, which saw the release of 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai nationals in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel, with U.S. backing, is pushing for the return of all remaining hostages in exchange for a longer truce, lasting until after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover in April.
However, Hamas insists that the negotiations should aim for a permanent end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as agreed in the original ceasefire.
Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua said on Tuesday that talks with mediators are ongoing, and the group is committed to fulfilling the terms of the original ceasefire deal.
Egyptian mediators were caught off guard by the Israeli airstrikes, which took place after calm negotiations a day earlier. Now, they are working hard to save the ceasefire and return to peace talks.
Since the war began in October 2023, much of Gaza has been destroyed. The conflict started when Hamas fighters attacked Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. In retaliation, Israel’s military campaign has led to over 48,000 deaths in Gaza and left much of the region’s infrastructure, including hospitals, in ruins.
