JERUSALEM, March 19 — Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday defended the resumption of airstrikes in Gaza, saying that negotiations on restoring the ceasefire would continue "only under fire".
In a briefing, Netanyahu said military pressure on Hamas was a "critical condition" for securing the release of hostages held by the militant Islamist group, adding: "This is just the beginning."
Airstrikes pounded Gaza and killed more than 400 people yesterday, Palestinian health authorities said, shattering nearly two months of relative calm since a ceasefire began.
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas accused each other of breaching the truce. It had broadly held since January and offered respite from war for the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas, which still holds 59 of the 250 or so hostages Israel says the group seized in its October 7, 2023 attack, accused Israel of jeopardising efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting, but the group made no threat of retaliation.
Netanyahu said he ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure a ceasefire extension.
Netanyahu called on Gazans to get out of harm's way and move to safer areas, blaming every civilian casualty on Hamas.
"From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing force. And from now on, negotiations will only take place under fire," he said, speaking from the Kirya army base in Tel Aviv.
"Hamas has already felt the blow of our arm in the last 24 hours. And I want to assure you: This is just the beginning."
The strikes hit houses and tent encampments from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip. Witnesses said an Israeli plane fired missiles into Gaza City late yesterday.
Israeli tanks shelled from across the border, witnesses said. Palestinian health authorities said 408 people had been killed in one of the biggest single-day tolls since the war erupted.
"It was a night of hell. It felt like the first days of the war," said Rabiha Jamal, 65, a mother of five from Gaza City.
Families in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip and eastern areas of Khan Younis in the south fled their homes. Carrying belongings, some were on foot, others in cars or rickshaws after the Israeli military ordered them to evacuate from what it said were "dangerous combat zones".
In Gaza, witnesses told Reuters Israeli tanks shelled areas in Rafah in the south. Bewildered children sat next to bags of belongings, ready to flee.
In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets smeared with blood were stacked up as casualties were brought in. The health ministry said many of the dead were children, and 562 people were wounded.
The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 people, say Palestinian health authorities.
— Reuters
