Israeli strikes have killed at least 58 people in Gaza overnight, local hospitals say
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Gaza and the wider crisis in the Middle East.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 58 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight, according to three hospitals.
The Associated Press reports the strikes hit multiple homes in the middle of the night, killing men, women and children as they slept.
Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire that had halted the war and facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected a new proposal that departed from their signed agreement.
More than 400 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
These latest strikes come a day after Israeli ground troops advanced in Gaza for the first time since the ceasefire took hold in January, seizing part of a corridor separating the northern third of the territory from the south.
Israel, which has also cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians, has vowed to intensify its operations until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 35 of whom are believed dead — and gives up control of the territory. The Trump administration, which took credit for brokering the ceasefire, says it fully supports Israel.
We’ll bring you the latest developments throughout the day.
Key events
Germany’s foreign minister has warned Syrian authorities to ensure peace and security for all Syrians, two weeks after violent clashes that killed at least 1,500 civilians, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Speaking before a trip to Damascus, outgoing foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said the violence had undermined faith in the Syrian authorities. “Lots of them [Syrians] are scared that life in the future Syria will not be safe for all Syrians,” Baerbock said in a statement. She added:
The appalling bouts of violence two weeks ago have cost a massive amount of trust.”
Baerbock called for Syria’s transitional government, which took office after former president Bashar al-Assad fled the country in December, to ensure it controlled the “groups in its own ranks”. She added that it should put those responsible for the violence on trial and ensure peace and prosperity across Syria, which has been scarred by 14 years of civil war.
“This is the mammoth task facing the Syria’s transitional government under Ahmed al-Sharaa,” she said, according to AFP.
Baerbock said she would use her trip to tell Syria’s government that a “fresh start” between Europe and Germany on one side and Syria on the other was conditional on all Syrians enjoying freedom and security regardless of faith, gender or ethnicity.
Hamas says talks with mediators ongoing to halt Israeli offensive on Gaza
Hamas said that talks with mediators were ongoing on Thursday to halt the Israeli offensive on Gaza, which resumed two days ago, and to push Israel to abide by the ceasefire deal.
Hamas reiterated its commitment to the deal that was signed in January, reports Reuters.
Here are some of the latest images coming through from Gaza:
Early on Thursday, Israel said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have targeted Ben Gurion international airport.
“A missile launched from Yemen was intercepted … prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” Israel’s military said.
In a statement, the Houthis said they had targeted Ben Gurion airport with a “hypersonic ballistic missile”, and again targeted an American aircraft carrier group in the Red Sea.
Israel launches ‘limited ground operation’ to retake Netzarim corridor
Jason Burke
As we briefly mentioned earlier, Israeli forces have launched a “limited ground operation” to retake the Netzarim corridor, a newly widened road protected by fortified bunkers that divides Gaza and is seen as essential to controlling the devastated Palestinian territory. Jason Burke has this report from Jerusalem:
The move is a significant escalation of Israel’s new offensive in Gaza and came less than 36 hours after a massive wave of airstrikes that killed more than 400, including 183 children and 94 women, the health ministry there said.
A series of Israeli evacuation orders telling about 150,000 people in the north and east of Gaza to leave their homes to avoid being trapped in a combat zone suggested ground assaults in coming days, but seizure of the Netzarim corridor is the first major move to retake territory in Gaza since Tuesday’s airstrikes, which shattered a two-month-long pause in the hostilities with Hamas.
A private security company that had been securing checkpoints in the Netzarim corridor withdrew overnight and Israeli troops in armoured vehicles and tanks and on foot moved in at dawn on Wednesday, according to western aid officials.
The Israeli forces are believed to have reoccupied four fortified bases there and closed off all access. Travelling from north to south Gaza is now impossible, the officials said.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has said the new offensive will continue until “total victory” is achieved over Hamas and the 59 remaining hostages held by the militant group are freed.
As part of the ceasefire deal agreed in January, Israel had withdrawn from the Netzarim corridor.
Across Gaza, ordinary Palestinians – men and women, old and young, ill and healthy – have described their fear, despair and confusion after Israel’s return to violence in the past two days. My colleagues Jason Burke and Malak A Tantesh have this report:
“Our hopes rose but now we are back to square one,” Osama, a 40-year-old aid worker living in al-Mawasi, a coastal area designated as a “humanitarian zone” early in the conflict, which has since become known for severe overcrowding and poor sanitation.
In a statement on Wednesday, Israel’s defence minister warned the military was preparing to intensify its new offensive.
Israel Katz said: “Residents of Gaza, this is the last warning. Take the advice of the president of the United States. Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you – including the possibility of leaving for other places in the world for those who want to.”
It was not immediately clear which statement Katz was referring to.
In al-Mawasi, tented encampments that had stretched along the entire shoreline emptied when the ceasefire was agreed. Almost half a million people headed back to the north of Gaza to try to rebuild their ruined homes. Many are now returning, pitching their tents once again on the dunes.
“The worst thing is not the deprivation or the uncertainty. It is that the hopes we had with the ceasefire are gone. We thought our pains were over but it has just started again,” said Osama.
Read the full piece here:
Israeli strikes have killed at least 58 people in Gaza overnight, local hospitals say
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Gaza and the wider crisis in the Middle East.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 58 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight, according to three hospitals.
The Associated Press reports the strikes hit multiple homes in the middle of the night, killing men, women and children as they slept.
Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire that had halted the war and facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected a new proposal that departed from their signed agreement.
More than 400 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
These latest strikes come a day after Israeli ground troops advanced in Gaza for the first time since the ceasefire took hold in January, seizing part of a corridor separating the northern third of the territory from the south.
Israel, which has also cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians, has vowed to intensify its operations until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 35 of whom are believed dead — and gives up control of the territory. The Trump administration, which took credit for brokering the ceasefire, says it fully supports Israel.
We’ll bring you the latest developments throughout the day.
