Israel on Tuesday unleashed its most intense campaign on the Gaza Strip since a January ceasefire, with rescuers reporting more than 330 people killed, prompting Hamas to accuse Benjamin Netanyahu's government of torpedoing the truce.
The strikes were ordered after "Hamas's repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
An Israeli official told AFP that the operation "will continue as long as necessary, and will expand beyond air strikes".
In a statement, Hamas said "Netanyahu and his extremist government have decided to overturn the ceasefire agreement, exposing the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate".
Mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, the initial phase of the ceasefire took effect on January 19, largely halting more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
That first phase ended in early March, and while both sides have since refrained from all-out war, they have been unable to agree on the next steps for truce talks.
In a post on Telegram in the early hours of Tuesday, the Israeli army said it was currently "conducting extensive strikes on terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in the Gaza Strip".
Two Hamas sources told AFP on Tuesday that Israel's overnight strikes on Gaza killed general Mahmud Abu Watfa, who headed the militant movement's interior ministry in the territory.
Abu Watfa, who headed Hamas's police and internal security services in the Gaza Strip, was killed in a strike on Gaza City, said the two sources, one of them an official at the interior ministry.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll from Israel's most intense strikes on the territory since the start of a truce had risen to "at least 330".
"The health ministry has recorded more than 330 deaths, most of them Palestinian women and children, and hundreds of wounded, dozens of them in critical condition," the head of the ministry, Mohammed Zaqut, told AFP.
Israel ordered all schools close to the regions neighbouring Gaza shut, as the government in a statement said it would now act with "increased military force" against Hamas.
Witkoff told CNN on Sunday he had offered a "bridge proposal" that would see five living hostages, including Israeli-American Edan Alexander, released in return for freeing a "substantial amount of Palestinian prisoners" from Israel jails.
Hamas on Friday had said it was ready to free Alexander and the remains of four others, who an official of the movement described as Israeli-Americans.
Witkoff said Hamas had provided "an unacceptable response" to the proposal and "the opportunity is closing fast."
With AFP
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