Associated Press and Reuters are carrying an updated death toll from overnight Israeli strikes on Gaza, reporting that Gaza’s health ministry has said the Israeli strikes across the territory have killed at least 326 people. More details soon … At least 250 Palestinians have been reported killed by renewed Israeli airstrikes on Gaza overnight. Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation had been carried out “to achieve the war objectives set by the political leadership, including the release of all the hostages”. Hamas described the attack as a “blatant violation of all international and humanitarian conventions.” In a statement Netanyahu said the attack had been agreed jointly with Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz “after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all the proposals it received from the US president’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators.” “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” the prime minister’s office said. The Hamas-run government media office in the territory called on the international community to “break their silence and take immediate action” to prevent the Israeli attacks, and said rescue operations were being hampered by a lack of fuel. Israel controls the entry of goods and services into the Gaza Strip, and has been blockading humanitarian aid, having recently also cut off electricity supplies. Palestinian health ministry officials claimed many of the dead were children, while the Israeli military claimed it hit dozens of what it termed “terror targets”. Access for international journalists to the Gaza Strip has been limited by Israel, and it has not been possible to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict. In Israel the Hostages and Missing Families Forum criticised the latest move, saying the Israeli government had “chosen to abandon the hostages” adding that “military pressure endangers both the hostages and the soldiers.” 59 hostages are believed to still remain in captivity in Gaza, having been seized by Hamas and other groups during the deadly 7 October 2023 attack inside southern Israel, when 251 people are believed to have been abducted. Not all of the remaining hostages are thought by Israeli authorities to be alive. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have been carrying out operations in Tubas and Bethlehem inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It also reports that at least 17 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces in Nablus. The renewed Israeli strikes on Gaza are the subject of our First Edition newsletter today. My colleague Archie Bland writes: The first explosions were heard in north-west Gaza, as many ate their pre-dawn meals during the holy month of Ramadan. The airstrikes hit Gaza City in the north, Deir al-Balah in the centre, and Khan Younis and Rafah in the south. Israel claimed that it had hit “terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation”. Witnesses and photographs taken at Gaza’s hospitals suggested that many civilians, including children, were among the dead, with piles of bodies stacked up under white plastic sheets. AFP quoted Ramez Alammarin, 25, who described carrying children to a hospital near Gaza City. “They unleashed the fire of hell again on Gaza,” he said. “Bodies and limbs are on the ground, and the wounded cannot find any doctor to treat them. They bombed a building in the area and there are still martyrs and wounded under the rubble … fear and terror. Death is better than life.” Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to blame Hamas’ refusal to release the remaining hostages without moving to a second phase for the resumption of strikes in Gaza; Donald Trump recently said that unless Hamas immediately released all remaining hostages, “not a single Hamas member will be safe”. He also appeared to threaten civilians in Gaza. But Hamas has been reluctant to give up its sole remaining source of leverage without a move to the second phase of talks. It said last week that it was ready to release American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander and the bodies of four others, but US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff rejected that offer and said that Hamas had privately made unrealistic demands. You can read more here: Tuesday briefing – major Israeli airstrikes break fragile peace Sign up for First Edition newsletter, our free daily news email Here are some of the latest images from Gaza sent over the news wires. Associated Press reports that the Israeli military has ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza and move toward the centre of the territory after Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes. The orders issued on Tuesday indicate Israel could launch renewed ground operations. Despite pleas from the hostage families, Israel has said will fight on in Gaza for “as long as the hostages are not returned”, defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday after Israel resumed air strikes on the battered territory. “We will not stop fighting as long as the hostages are not returned home and all our war aims are not achieved,” Katz said. Apart from the release of the remaining hostages, Israel’s other main war aim is to crush Hamas. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a statement on Tuesday condemning the renewed attacks in Gaza. The claim that the war is being renewed for the release of the hostages is a complete deception – military pressure endangers the hostages and soldiers,” the statement read. “We must return to the cease-fire.” For a full take of events, please read this dispatch from our correspondents, Jason Burke in Jerusalem and Malak A Tantesh in Gaza. More than 200 people have been killed and hundreds more injured as Israeli military forces hit dozens of targets across Gaza early on Tuesday, effectively ending the increasingly shaky ceasefire that had halted violence in the devastated Palestinian territory since mid January. Palestinian health authorities reported a total of 235 deaths and 300 injured by 7am local time, five hours after the strikes began. The full report is below: Two Hamas sources told Agence France Presse on Tuesday that Israel’s overnight strikes on Gaza killed general Mahmud Abu Watfa, who headed the militant movement’s interior ministry in the territory. Abu Watfa, who headed Hamas’s police and internal security services in the Gaza Strip, was killed in a strike on Gaza City, said the two sources, one of them an official at the interior ministry. Hello and thank you for following our live coverage of events in the Middle East. Early on Tuesday Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza strip, saying it was hitting Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January. The surprise attack shattered a period of relative calm during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and raised the prospect of a full return to fighting in a 17-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. Tuesday’s strikes have resulted in a heavy death toll, with Gaza’s health ministry saying that more than 200 people have been killed, many of whom were women and children. Here is a brief recap of everything you need to know. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in ongoing talks to extend the ceasefire. He accused Hamas of “repeated refusal to release our hostages” and rejecting proposals from US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” it said in a statement. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. Hamas warned that Israel’s new airstrikes breached their ceasefire and put the fate of hostages in jeopardy. A senior Hamas official said Netanyahu’s decision to launch widespread strikes on the Gaza strip amounted to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages held there. In a statement early on Tuesday, Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, accused Netanyahu of resuming the war to try and save his far-right governing coalition. Strikes were reported in multiple locations, including northern Gaza, Gaza City and the Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah in central and southern Gaza Strip. Israel’s ambassador to UN has vowed that strikes would continue, saying that: “Nothing will stop us from fighting to free our hostages who have been held in brutal Hamas captivity for 527 days. We will show no mercy against our enemies while our hostages languish in Hamas terror tunnels.” The Israeli military has also said the strikes would continue as long as necessary and could extend beyond airstrikes, raising the prospect that Israeli ground troops could resume fighting, according to Reuters. Tuesday’s attacks have been far wider in scale than the regular series of drone strikes the Israeli military has said it has conducted against individuals or small groups of suspected militants and follows weeks of failed efforts to agree an extension to the truce agreed on January 19. The White House has confirmed it was briefed in advance about Israel’s attack on Gaza, with spokesperson Karoline Leavitt quoted by US media as saying that those who seek to terrorise Israel and the US “will see a price to pay”. “Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,” White House spokesperson Brian Hughes said. The return to fighting could worsen deep internal fissures inside Israel over the fate of the remaining hostages, Associated Press reports. Many of the hostages released by Hamas returned emaciated and malnourished, putting heavy pressure on the government to extend the ceasefire. The Associated Press reports that Israel’s strikes on Gaza have killed at least 235 people, according to local hospitals. The toll is based on records from seven hospitals and does not include bodies brought to other, smaller health centres. Rescuers are still searching for dead and wounded. This video report shows the strikes on Gaza and ambulances rushing the injured to hospital. The return to fighting could worsen deep internal fissures inside Israel over the fate of the remaining hostages, Associated Press reports: Many of the hostages released by Hamas returned emaciated and malnourished, putting heavy pressure on the government to extend the ceasefire. The released hostages have repeatedly implored the government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining hostages, and tens of thousands of Israelis have taken part in mass demonstrations calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages. Mass demonstrations are planned later on Tuesday and Wednesday following Netanyahu’s announcement this week that he wants to fire the head of Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet. Critics have lambasted the move as an attempt by Netanyahu to divert blame for his government’s failures in the October 7 attack and handling of the war. Agence-France Presse has also spoken to people inside Gaza who have given accounts of the strikes. Mohammed Jarghoun, 36, was sleeping in a tent near his destroyed house in Khan Yunis when he was woken by huge blasts. “I thought they were dreams and nightmares, but I saw a fire in my relatives’ house. More than twenty martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women.” Ramez Alammarin, 25, described carrying children to hospital southeast of Gaza City. “They unleashed the fire of hell again on Gaza,” he said of Israel, adding that “bodies and limbs are on the ground, and the wounded cannot find any doctor to treat them. “They bombed a building in the area and there are still martyrs and wounded under the rubble... fear and terror. Death is better than life.” Some images are dropping from Gaza, showing destruction from the strikes: Associated Press has some updates from the ground in Gaza: In the southern city of Khan Younis, Associated Press reporters saw explosions and plumes of smoke. Ambulances brought wounded people to Nasser Hospital, where patients lay on the floor, some screaming. A young boy sat with a bandage around his head as a health worker checked for more injuries, a young girl cried as her bloody arm was bandaged. A strike on a home in the southern city of Rafah killed 17 members of one family, including at least 12 women and children, according to the European Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included five children, their parents, and another father and his three children, according to hospital records. Many Palestinians said they had expected a return to war when talks over the second phase of the ceasefire did not begin as scheduled in early February. Israel instead embraced an alternative proposal and cut off all shipments of food, fuel and other aid to the territory’s 2 million Palestinians to try to pressure Hamas to accept it. “Nobody wants to fight,” Palestinian resident Nidal Alzaanin told the AP by phone from Gaza City. “Everyone is still suffering from the previous months,” he said. Agence France-Presse reports that a top Hamas official has said that Israel decided to sacrifice its hostages by re-launching massive military operations in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Benjamin “Netanyahu’s decision to resume war is a decision to sacrifice the occupation’s prisoners and impose a death sentence on them,” Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said in a statement, adding that the Israeli premier was using the fighting as a political “lifeboat” to distract from internal crises. Iran-backed Houthis on Tuesday claimed their third attack on American warships in 48 hours, despite US strikes targeting the rebel group in Yemen that have sparked mass protests, Agence France Presse reports. The Houthis said on Telegram they had targeted the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group with missiles and drones, making the attack the “third in the past 48 hours” in the northern Red Sea. A US defence official said the Houthis “continue to communicate lies and disinformation,” adding the Iran-backed group is “well known for false claims minimizing the results of our attacks while exaggerating the successes of theirs”. A US Air Force official earlier said it was “hard to confirm” the attacks claimed by the Houthis as the rebels were missing their targets “by over 100 miles”. Houthi media said fresh US strikes hit Yemen on Monday after tens of thousands demonstrated, many waving assault rifles, daggers or Korans, chanting “Death to America, death to Israel!” in the capital Sanaa. There were also large crowds in Saada, the birthplace of the Huthi movement, and demonstrations in Dhamar, Hodeida and Amran, footage from the rebels’ Al-Masirah TV station showed. The Houthis have targeted ships traveling the major trade route since the start of the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with Palestinians. The Israeli military, which said it hit dozens of targets, said the strikes would continue for as long as necessary and would extend beyond air strikes, raising the prospect that Israeli ground troops could resume fighting, according to a report from Reuters news. The attacks were far wider in scale than the regular series of drone strikes the Israeli military has said it has conducted against individuals or small groups of suspected militants and follows weeks of failed efforts to agree an extension to the truce agreed on January 19. “The Security Council will convene tomorrow to discuss the situation in Gaza. It is time for the countries of the world to take seriously our unwavering commitment to bring back all our hostages home and defeat the enemy,” he said, in a post on X. “Nothing will stop us from fighting to free our hostages who have been held in brutal Hamas captivity for 527 days. We will show no mercy against our enemies while our hostages languish in Hamas terror tunnels.” Commenting on the fresh strikes in Gaza, Sally Thomas, humanitarian manager at Caritas Australia, warned the strikes would impact distribution “In the first month of the ceasefire around 56 ,000 metric tons of food entered Gaza, more than double the amount in the month prior. Alongside this, humanitarians have been working to take care of an estimated 350,000 chronically ill people in Gaza, where there are just 108 ICY beds remaining, and a lack of necessities such as oxygen and vital medical equipment,” she said in a statement. “However, what we have seen so far in this conflict is the safety of humanitarians and civilians – including children, the disabled and elderly – is not being upheld. This leaves humanitarian organisations with a very low level of trust that their staff might return from aid missions. “These recent strikes may therefore result in the stoppage of aid to the most remote and dangerous areas where the need is often the greatest, despite ongoing ceasefire conditions that should enable the safe delivery of aid.” Thomas urged global leaders to apply diplomatic and political pressure to protect the world’s most vulnerable. “Our global conscience, and of course the vulnerable people in Gaza, simply cannot afford for this work to stop,” she said, “We must not tolerate further suffering.” The death toll from this new wave of strikes continues to rise. Israeli strikes on Tuesday have now killed at least 200 people across the Gaza Strip, the spokesperson of Gaza’s health ministry, Khalil Al-Deqran, told Reuters. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu’s office said. The surprise attack shattered a period of relative calm during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and raised the prospect of a full return to fighting in a 17-month war that has killed over 48,000 Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised questions about the fate of the roughly two dozen Israeli hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive. Gaza’s civil defence agency said the death toll from the massive operation Israel launched on Tuesday has risen to 121 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, according to AFP. “Over 121 martyrs, most of them children, women, and the elderly, are the initial toll of the aggression,” said agency spokesman Mahmud Basal. An Israeli official has tole Agence France Presse that the extensive operation launched across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday was targeting Hamas leadership and infrastructure and would last “as long as necessary”. The Israeli military “has launched a series of preemptive strikes targeting mid-ranking military commanders, leadership officials and terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation,” the official, who declined to be named, said, adding that the operation “will continue as long as necessary, and will expand beyond air strikes”. The Israeli military said it hit targets across Gaza early on Tuesday, ending a weeks-long standoff over extending the ceasefire that halted fighting in January, with Palestinian health ministry officials reporting at least 100 dead, according to a report from Reuters news. Strikes were reported in multiple locations, including northern Gaza, Gaza City and the Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah in central and southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian health ministry officials said many of the dead were children. The White House has confirmed it was briefed in advance about Israel’s attack on Gaza, with spokesperson Karoline Leavitt quoted by US media as saying that those who seek to terrorise Israel and the US “will see a price to pay”. According to NBC Leavitt said: The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight. And as President Trump has made it clear, Hamas, the Houthis, Iran – all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America – will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose, and all of the terrorists in the Middle East – again, the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iranian-backed terror proxies and Iran themselves – should take President Trump very seriously when he says he is not afraid to stand for law-abiding people. He is not afraid to stand up for the United States of America and our friend and our ally Israel. The death toll has risen to at least 80 Palestinians, including many children, medics have told Reuters. Incredibly distressing images are already appearing from Gaza showing the bodies of children in hospital morgues, killed in what Israel claims are strikes targeting Hamas. Anas al-Sharif, a reporter for Al Jazeera, wrote on X that “Nine dismembered bodies, mostly women and children, have arrived at Al-Kuwait Specialized Hospital following Israeli bombardment on Al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis.” Later he added, “Martyrs, mostly children, arrive at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after Israeli strikes targeted civilian homes in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.” His posts showed the bodies of at least eight dead children. Many of the casualties appeared to be arriving on donkey carts due to the lack of fuel caused by Israel’s blockade on aid. It is not possible for the Guardian to verify the reports as Israel does not allow foreign journalists into the devastated territory. A senior Hamas official has told Reuters that Israel is unilaterally ending the Gaza ceasefire agreement. They said the move would expose Israeli hostages to an unknown fate. Israel believes there are about two dozen living hostages in Gaza, including one Thai and one Nepali. It also believes there are about 35 dead hostages who remain in the territory. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he and defence minister Israel Katz have told the military to take “strong action” against Hamas in Gaza, even as reports from the territory said that children were among the dead. In a post on X, Netanyahu’s office said: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have instructed the IDF to take strong action against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators. The IDF is, at this time, attacking targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip in order 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. Israel has refused to stick to the terms of the ceasefire deal that it agreed with Hamas and has repeatedly violated it since it began at the end of January, killing more than 100 Palestinians and also blocking all aid for the past two weeks. The White House has confirmed it was briefed in advance after Israel resumed what it said were “extensive strikes” on Gaza, reportedly killing dozens of Palestinian people. The strikes are Israel’s heaviest assault on the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January. The move came after Hamas refused to agree to its demands to extend phase one of the ceasefire agreement. In Gaza, explosions could be heard at various locations and ambulances were arriving at Al Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza. The Palestinian civil emergency service said Israel carried out at least 35 airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 30 people. In Gaza City, medics reported that at least eight Palestinians, including children, had been killed. 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.
Author: Martin Belam (now); Kate Lamb and Helen Livingstone (earlier)