Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, health officials in the enclave said, and the Israeli army, which resumed attacks against the territory, said it targeted a Hamas military site in the north.
Three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Sabra suburb in Gaza City, while another airstrike left two men dead and wounded six others in Beit Hanoun town in the north, Gaza health officials said.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas site in northern Gaza, where they detected preparations for firing into Israeli territory. Israel resumed airstrikes a day earlier as both sides traded blame over breaking the first phase of the ceasefire agreement and shattering nearly two months of relative calm.
Warning: This video contains graphic images | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military campaign will continue in Gaza with increasing intensity. The first wave of bombardments from Israel since the collapse of the ceasefire killed at least 400 people and displaced thousands from their homes, Gaza health officials say.
Israeli naval vessels attacked several boats it said were intended to carry out “terrorist” acts by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups. Palestinians said an Israeli drone fired at several fishing boats onshore of Gaza City, setting several of them ablaze.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army dropped leaflets on areas in Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis in the northern and southern parts of the territory, ordering residents to evacuate their homes and warning them they were in “dangerous combat zones.”
“Staying in the shelters or the current tent put your lives and that of your family members in danger, evacuate immediately,” read a leaflet dropped on Beit Hanoun.
Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday left more than 400 people dead, according to Palestinian health authorities, and Israel warned the onslaught was “just the beginning.”
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching the truce, which had broadly held since January and offered respite for the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure a ceasefire extension.
Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza overnight, killing more than 400 people, Palestinian health authorities say, threatening the complete collapse of the two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas, which still holds 59 of about 250 hostages Israel says the group seized in its Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack, accused Israel of jeopardizing efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting.
Hamas officials also said they remained keen on concluding the three-phase ceasefire deal as signed.
Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel that day, killing some 1,200 people and taking the hostages, according to Israeli tallies. The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say.
