Israel has broken the fragile two-months old ceasefire, launching vicious airstrikes on Gaza’s inhabitants leading to death of more than 400 people including children and women.
The health ministry in Gaza has said the death toll from a massive Israeli campaign launched early on Tuesday throughout the Palestinian territory had risen to “at least 413”, including children, unilaterally ending a weeks-long standoff over extending the January ceasefire.
“So far, 413 martyrs have arrived in hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” a health ministry statement said, adding: “A number of victims are still under the rubble and work is underway to recover them.”
Mohammed Zaqut, the ministry’s head told AFP earlier today that Palestinian women and children were among those killed while “hundreds [were] wounded, dozens of them in critical condition”.
Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP that Israel’s military operation was ongoing, affecting schools and camps sheltering displaced people.
Strikes were reported in multiple locations, including northern Gaza, Gaza City and the Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah in central and southern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military, which claimed it hit dozens of targets, said the strikes would continue for as long as necessary and would extend beyond air strikes, raising the prospect that Israeli ground troops could resume fighting.
The attacks were far wider in scale than the regular series of drone strikes the Israeli military has said it has conducted against individuals or small groups of suspected fighters and follow weeks of failed efforts to agree an extension to the truce agreed on January 19.
In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets smeared with blood could be seen stacked up as casualties were brought in.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams dealt with 86 killed and 134 wounded, but others were brought to overwhelmed hospitals by private cars.
