Israeli air strikes pounded Gaza, killing more than 400 people, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday, collapsing a two-month ceasefire with Hamas as Israel vowed to use force to free its remaining hostages in the strip.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the military to take “strong action” against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza in response to the group’s refusal to release hostages and rejection of ceasefire proposals.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Hamas accused Israel of overturning the hard-fought ceasefire deal agreed in January, leaving the fate of 59 hostages still held in Gaza uncertain.
Israel’s renewed intense pressure on Hamas came as tensions flared elsewhere in the Middle East, a major supplier of oil to global markets, which has seen the Gaza war spread to Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.