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ISRAELI air strikes pounded Gaza, killing 254 people, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday, and threatening a complete collapse of a two-month ceasefire as it vowed to use force to free its remaining hostages in the strip.
Reuters reported Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he had instructed the military to take "strong action" against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza in response to the group's refusal to release hostages held there and rejection of ceasefire proposals.
"Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
After heavy strikes, the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for a number of neighbourhoods in Gaza, according to a statement. Hamas, meanwhile, accused Israel of overturning the hard-fought ceasefire deal, leaving the fate of 59 hostages still held in Gaza uncertain.
Israel's renewed intense pressure on Hamas came as tensions flared elsewhere in the Middle East, a major supplier of oil to global markets, which has seen the Gaza war spread to Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would hold Iran responsible for any further attacks on international shipping carried out by the Houthi group, as his administration expanded strikes in Yemen, the biggest U.S. military operation in the region since he returned to the White House.
Strikes in Gaza were reported in multiple locations. Palestinian health ministry officials said many of the dead were children. The Israeli military said it hit dozens of targets, and that the attacks would continue for as long as necessary and extend beyond air strikes, raising the prospect that Israeli ground troops could resume fighting.
The attacks were far wider in scale than the regular drone strikes Israel has said it has conducted recently 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.
Israel has weakened Hamas and the group's Lebanese ally Hezbollah, killing their leaders while launching attacks on the Houthis, all members of what has been called Iran's "Axis of Resistance" against U.S. and Israeli interests.
Among those killed was Mohammad Al-Jmasi, a senior member of Hamas' political office, and members of his family, including his grandchildren who were in his house in Gaza City when it was hit by an air strike, Hamas sources and relatives said. In all, at least five senior Hamas officials were killed along with members of their families.
In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets smeared with blood could be seen stacked up as casualties were brought in. – March 18, 2025
