Thousands of Palestinians have been on the move again since yesterday after a wave of Israeli attacks that killed hundreds of people and marked the end of almost two months of calm in the devastated enclave, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that talks on renewing the ceasefire would continue "only under fire."
"It was a nightmare that became reality," Gaitam, a 19-year-old from a village near the southern city of Khan Younis, told The Guardian after being woken at around XNUMXam by the sounds of warplanes, explosions and screams.
Within hours, the death toll from the conflict had risen to more than 400, with medical personnel in Gaza reporting that many women and children were among the victims.
Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas accuse each other of violating the ceasefire, which has been largely in place since January and provided a respite from the war for Gaza's two million residents, where most buildings have been razed to the ground.
Hamas, which still holds 59 of the approximately 250 hostages it seized during the October 7, 2023 attack, has accused Israel of undermining efforts by mediators to reach a lasting agreement to end the conflict, but has not threatened retaliation.
Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because Hamas rejected proposals to extend the ceasefire during failed talks. "Israel will now act against Hamas with increasingly strong military force," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
Netanyahu said in a speech last night that military pressure on Hamas was a "critical condition" for the release of hostages held by the militant Islamist group, adding: "This is just the beginning."
Egypt and Qatar, which along with the United States brokered the ceasefire negotiations, condemned the Israeli attack, while the European Union expressed regret in a statement over the breakdown of the ceasefire.
"The EU calls on Israel to end its military operations and reiterates its appeal to Hamas to immediately release all hostages," said a joint statement by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kalas, as well as Commissioners Dubravka Šuica and Haxha Labib.
The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said the "modest gains" made during the ceasefire had now been destroyed.
However, the acting US ambassador to the United Nations said yesterday that responsibility for the continued conflict in Gaza lies solely with Hamas and that the US supports Israel in its next steps.
"The responsibility for the continuation of hostilities lies solely with Hamas," said Dorothy Shea, accusing the group of rejecting every proposal and deadline to extend the ceasefire and allow time for negotiations on a permanent agreement.
Shea added that US President Donald Trump has made it clear that Hamas must immediately release the hostages it is holding or face serious consequences.
"We support Israel in its next steps," she said, rejecting accusations that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are carrying out indiscriminate attacks.
"The IDF is targeting Hamas positions," she said. "It is well known that Hamas continues to use civilian infrastructure as launch pads, and the United States condemns this practice, as should others."
Witnesses told Reuters that yesterday's attacks hit homes and tent camps across the Gaza Strip, from north to south, while Israeli tanks shelled from across the border, witnesses said.
"It was a night of hell. It felt like the first days of the war," said Rabiha Jamal, a 65-year-old mother of five from Gaza City.
At around 5am, Gaitam heard that a friend he had played volleyball with the day before had been killed. "I couldn't control myself and started crying. I went to the cemetery to say goodbye to my friend, and it was crowded there, the scenes were heartbreaking," he said.
Israeli security services and the military said the strikes were aimed exclusively at "terrorist targets belonging to the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations," including "terrorist cells, launch sites, weapons depots and additional military infrastructure that these organizations use to plan and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers."
In Gaza, eyewitnesses contacted by Reuters said Israeli tanks shelled areas in Rafah in the south. Confused children sat next to packed belongings, ready to flee north again, after returning to Rafah during the ceasefire.
Soon, both Gaitam and his family were on the move again, displaced for the tenth time.
"We saw the (Israeli army) orders and started collecting some clothes. We don't have enough food or fuel. Now we are going to my sister's place in a safer area. Our feelings at this moment are indescribable - anger, exhaustion, anxiety, fear, horror and sadness. We feel like we are carrying the weight of the whole world on our backs," he said.
In hospitals, which are under immense pressure after 15 months of bombing, bodies wrapped in white plastic bags, stained with blood, piled up as more victims poured in, Reuters reported. Authorities in Gaza said many children were among the dead, while 562 people were wounded.
Among the Hamas officials killed in the airstrikes were Essam Adalis, the leader of the Hamas authority in Gaza, Ahmed al-Heta, the deputy justice minister, and Mahmoud Abu Watfa, the head of the Hamas-run security services.
The airstrikes have given Netanyahu a political boost at home. Former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who left the government over disagreements over the Gaza ceasefire, is rejoining the coalition after the resumption of Israeli strikes, the statement said, bolstering Netanyahu's government.
However, former hostages and families of those still held in Gaza have expressed outrage over the continuation of the war.
Freed hostage Jarden Bibas, whose wife and two young sons were killed in captivity, wrote on Facebook:
"Israel's decision to return to fighting takes me back to Gaza, to the moments when I heard explosions around me and feared for my life, fearing that the tunnel I was trapped in would collapse... Military pressure endangers the hostages, while the agreement brings them home."
Critics accuse Netanyahu of using the war to hold on to power.
"Everything is connected... The hostages were sacrificed for political reasons," said Ora Peled Nakash, a former senior Israeli navy officer and protest organizer.
Bonus video:
