CAIRO/GAZA, March 21 — At least 91 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in airstrikes across Gaza yesterday after Israel resumed bombing and ground operations, the enclave's health ministry said, effectively ditching a two-month-old ceasefire.
After two months of relative calm, Gazans were again fleeing for their lives after Israel effectively abandoned a ceasefire, launching a new all-out air and ground campaign against Gaza's dominant Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets on residential neighbourhoods, ordering people out of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun towns in the north, the Shejaia district in Gaza City and towns on the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis in the south.
"War is back, displacement and death are back, will we survive this round?" said Samed Sami, 29, who fled Shejaia to put up a tent for his family in a camp on open ground.
A day after sending tanks into central Gaza, the Israeli military said yesterday it had also begun conducting ground operations in the north of the densely populated enclave, along the coastal route in Beit Lahiya.
Hamas, which had not retaliated during the first 48 hours of the renewed Israeli assault, said its fighters fired rockets into Israel. The Israeli military said sirens sounded in the centre of the country after projectiles were launched from Gaza.
Palestinian medics said Israeli strikes targeted several houses in northern and southern sections of the Gaza Strip.
With talks having failed to bridge differences over terms to extend the ceasefire, the military resumed its air assaults on Gaza with a massive bombing campaign on Tuesday before sending soldiers in the day after.
Tuesday's first day of resumed airstrikes killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the deadliest days of the 17-month-old conflict, with scant let-up since.
In a blow to Hamas as it sought to rebuild its administration in Gaza, this week's strikes have killed some of its top figures, including the de facto Hamas-appointed head of the Gaza government, the chief of security services, his aide, and the deputy head of the Hamas-run justice ministry.
The group said the Israeli ground operation and the incursion into the Netzarim corridor were a "new and dangerous violation" of the ceasefire agreement. In a statement, it reaffirmed its commitment to the deal and called on mediators to "assume their responsibilities".
Meanwhile in GENEVA, it is reported that five staff members of the United Nations Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, have been killed in the past few days.
The agency's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini confirmed the numbers yesterday.
"In the past few days another five UNRWA staff have been confirmed killed, bringing the death toll to 284. They were teachers, doctors and nurses: serving the most vulnerable", he said in a statement posted on X.
Lazzarini said he feared the worst was yet to come as Israeli bombardments continue by land and sea, as well as an ongoing ground invasion.
— Reuters
