Israel's military on Tuesday launched the deadliest strikes on the Gaza Strip since the agreement of its ceasefire with Hamas, killing hundreds of people and shattering the fragile truce.
The Israeli military was "conducting extensive strikes" against Hamas throughout Gaza, aimed at “the release of all our hostages — living and dead,” the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
“From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force,” it said, with the Israeli military later issuing evacuation orders to several neighborhoods across the enclave.
At a news briefing Tuesday evening, Netanyahu warned that the strikes were "just the beginning" and that his aim is to "destroy Hamas and make sure Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”
The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, whose figures the World Health Organization has previously said it considers to be reliable, said hospitals across the enclave had received the bodies of at least 404 people killed, with more than 560 injured. It added that people were still buried under rubble, with recovery efforts underway.
Dr. Muneer Al-Boursh, the ministry's director-general said "most of the victims" were women and children as he called on Gaza's residents to donate blood.
While Tuesday's strikes are not the first to happen during the ceasefire, their scale puts the two-month-old ceasefire on shaky ground, although neither Israel or Hamas have explicitly said they considered the current ceasefire to be over.
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Still, Hamas accused Israeli officials of having violated the terms of the truce.
“Netanyahu and his extremist government have decided to overturn the ceasefire agreement and are exposing the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate,” Hamas said in a statement.
Video captured by NBC News' crew on the ground in southern Gaza's Khan Younis showed scenes of people being rushed to Nasser Hospital, while bloodied bodies could be seen being laid down on the floor and on metal stretchers, including those of young children.
Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a volunteer with Medical Aid for Palestinians' emergency medical team at Nasser Hospital described the "frenzy" Tuesday morning as having "felt like Armageddon."
“The windows were shaking, the doors flew open, it was non-stop and then within about ten minutes we started hearing the sirens," she said in a statement shared by MAP with NBC News.
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said early Tuesday that dozens of people had been killed and wounded, following attacks on homes.
“Our crews are unable to deal with the attacks due to limited resources and the dangerous situation,” Basal said. “We call on the world to stop this aggression.”
The Israeli military issued evacuation orders Tuesday morning to Palestinians in neighborhoods across the enclave in Beit Hanoun, Khirbet Khuza’a, Abasan al-Kabira, and al-Jadidah, saying they were "dangerous combat zones." Residents were told to evacuate to known shelters in western Gaza City and Khan Younis.
The strikes were the heaviest Israeli military bombardment in Gaza since the ceasefire deal was reached in January and brought a pause to fighting that followed the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, when more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.
Since then, more than 48,500 people have been killed in Gaza, with much of the infrastructure across the enclave destroyed.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Tuesday morning called for an immediate “return to a ceasefire” amid Israel’s airstrikes.
“The lives of our loved ones hang by a thread and cannot endure much longer,” the forum, which represents the families of those held hostage in Gaza, said in a statement. “After surviving months in captivity against all odds, they are now in critical danger.”
Farhan Haq, spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the UN chief was "shocked by the Israeli airstrikes" and that Guterres "strongly appeals for the ceasefire to be respected, for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to be reestablished and for the remaining hostages to be released unconditionally."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News that Israel consulted the Trump administration and the White House about the strikes.
The IDF said Saturday that it had identified two Hamas operatives “operating a drone that posed a threat to IDF troops” and saw others collecting drone-operating equipment.
Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal in January, but since then, both sides have accused one another of breaching the truce's agreements.
The first phase of the deal — which included the release of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 — expired this month. The second phase, designed to release male hostages, is intended to initiate talks for a long-term end to the war.
Prominent human rights advocate Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, condemned the way Israel appeared to be attempting to “pressure Hamas into making further concessions” in negotiations to maintain the current ceasefire.
Netanyahu’s office said in Tuesday’s statement that he and Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the military “to act forcefully against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip.”
"This, after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the US presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators," Netanyahu's office said in reference to talks between international teams of negotiators in recent weeks.
Witkoff, the special American envoy to the Middle East, told CNN on Sunday that the U.S. favored a proposal that would include the release of five living hostages in return for the release of a “substantial” number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
