71 killed in latest rounds of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, ground operations underway
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a full investigation and condemned all attacks on UN personnel.
Highlights:
- At least 71 Palestinians killed in predawn attacks by Israel
- Israel shattered the ceasefire on Tuesday
- UN said strike killed foreign staffer and wounded five workers
At least 71 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed in today's predawn attacks by Israel in the north and south of the territory, reports Al Jazeera.
The latest killings will add to the Gaza Health Ministry's death toll of some 436 Palestinians, including 183 children, killed since Israel shattered the ceasefire on Tuesday.
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The Israeli military said its operations extended Israel's control over the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza, and were a "focused" manoeuvre aimed at creating a partial buffer zone between the north and the south of the enclave.
Hamas said the ground operation and the incursion into the Netzarim Corridor were a "new and dangerous violation" of the two-month-old ceasefire agreement. In a statement, the group reaffirmed its commitment to the deal and called on mediators to "assume their responsibilities".
The United Nations said a strike killed a foreign staffer and wounded five workers at a UN site in central Gaza City on Wednesday. Gaza's health ministry attributed the strike to Israel, but Israel denied this, saying it hit a Hamas site where it detected preparations for firing into Israeli territory.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services, said: "Israel knew that this was a UN premises, that people were living, staying and working there, it is a compound. It is a very well-known place."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a full investigation and condemned all attacks on UN personnel. In a statement he said the strike brought to at least 280 the number of UN colleagues killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023.
In Sofia, the foreign ministry said a Bulgarian working for the UN died on Wednesday in Gaza, citing preliminary information.
US says 'BRIDGE' proposal on the table
Yosef Levi Sfari, Israel's ambassador to Sofia, offered condolences for the Bulgarian citizen's death and said in a social media post that the incident was being investigated. But he added that an initial examination found "no connection" to Israeli military activity.
Israel, which has vowed to eradicate Hamas, said on Tuesday that its latest onslaught in Gaza was "just the beginning".
The US State Department blamed Hamas for the resumption of hostilities and said there was still a US-crafted "bridge" proposal on the table to extend the ceasefire and bring about the release of hostages held by the group in Gaza.
"The opportunity is still there, but it's closing fast," a State Department spokesperson said, adding that Hamas' response was "totally unacceptable" and that the US stood with Israel.
In the latest violence, local health workers said an Israeli airstrike killed four people and wounded 10 others in a house in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, where the army renewed evacuation orders to residents earlier on Wednesday.
In Beit Lahiya, an Israeli airstrike killed 24 people at a mourning tent, medics said.
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching the truce, which had offered a respite for Gaza's 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war reduced the enclave to rubble and forced most of its population to evacuate multiple times.
The Israeli campaign has killed more than 49,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities say, and caused a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food, fuel and water.
Israel has accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Hamas denies this and accuses Israel of indiscriminate bombings.
The war - the most devastating episode in decades of Israel-Palestinian conflict - was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which gunmen killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Protests in Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to resume bombardments has triggered protests in Israel as 59 hostages are still held in Gaza, with 24 of them believed to be still alive.
A coalition of hostage families and Netanyahu critics has regrouped and accuses the prime minister of using the war for political ends.
Palestinian medics said Israeli tank shelling on the main north-south Salahuddin Road in Gaza killed one Palestinian and wounded others while medics and witnesses said the Israeli operations there deterred people and vehicles from using the road.
Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua told Reuters the effect of closing the Salahuddin Road was a "total coup" against the three-phase ceasefire agreement and a tightening of the blockade on Gaza.
He said the group would welcome any proposal "as long as it is based on launching negotiation on the second phase and a complete end to the war in Gaza".
Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army dropped leaflets in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, once again ordering residents to evacuate their homes.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a video statement that if the hostages were not released, "Israel will act with force you have not yet seen".
The renewed violence was condemned by some Western nations, including France and Germany, as well as Qatar and Egypt, which had been acting as mediators in the ceasefire negotiations.
Jordan's King Abdullah called for the ceasefire to be restored and for aid flows to resume. "Israel's resumption of attacks on Gaza is an extremely dangerous step," he said on a visit to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.
