Israeli forces launched large-scale airstrikes on the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, breaking the fragile ceasefire agreement brokered with Hamas in January and threatening to reignite the conflict into full-blown war after nearly two months of relative respite.
The facts
Israel’s renewed bombardment has killed at least 400 Palestinians since dawn Tuesday and injured more than 500 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which said efforts to recover people under the rubble are ongoing. Strikes were reported across the enclave, from Khan Younis in the south to Gaza City in the north.
Hamas accused Israel of reneging on the ceasefire agreement, but there has been no immediate sign of the militant group retaliating against the Israeli strikes.
Israel said resuming its bombardment was the only way to secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, after it blamed Hamas’s rejection of mediation proposals for the stalling of ceasefire negotiations.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that Israel had consulted the United States about the strikes.
More than 48,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the war and more than 112,000 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, including more than 300 soldiers. It says 407 soldiers have been killed in its military operation in Gaza.
What happened to the ceasefire negotiations?
Israel and Hamas agreed to an initial ceasefire and hostage release deal in mid-January, the first phase of which lasted 42 days. In accordance with that deal, Hamas released 33 Israeli and dual-national hostages, among them two Americans, while Israel freed about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners and detainees and agreed to increase the amount of aid into Gaza.