Israel has warned that it will ‘show no mercy’ on Hamas if the Israeli hostages are not returned as it unleashes a series of air strikes on Gaza.
At least 330 Palestinians are dead, according to Hamas, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out ‘extensive’ strikes in Gaza overnight after talks to extend the ceasefire had failed.
At least four Hamas officials – including Mahmoud Abu Wafah, the deputy interior minister and highest-ranking Hamas security official in Gaza – were among those killed in the strikes, sources affiliated with the terror group have claimed.
Witnesses in Gaza say that Israel unleased a ‘fire of hell’ on the region, alleging that ‘bodies and limbs are on the ground’ and the ‘wounded cannot find any doctor to treat them’, AFP reports.
The Israeli military, which reported it hit dozens of ‘terror targets’ early on Tuesday, said the attacks would continue for as long as necessary.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says the fighting will continue ‘as long as the hostages are not returned and all our war aims are not achieved’.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has previously vowed to ‘destroy’ Hamas, said Tuesday that Israel will ‘from now on act against Hamas with increasing military strength’.
His office also accused Hamas of ‘repeated refusal to release our hostages’ and rejecting proposals from US President Donald Trump‘s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
Hamas has issued a statement accusing Israel of treachery for breaching the terms of the truce agreed on January 19 and warned that Netanyahu’s decision to launch widespread strikes on the Gaza Strip amounts to a ‘death sentence’ for the remaining hostages held there.
This picture was shared in the aftermath of the extensive Israeli air strikes on Gaza
Residents look at the remains of their homes, destroyed in an Israeli strike, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025
In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets could be seen stacked up as casualties were brought in
Strikes were reported in multiple locations overnight, including northern Gaza, Gaza City and the Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah in central and southern Gaza Strip. Officials with the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry said many of the dead were children.
In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets could be seen stacked up as casualties were brought in. People were rushing stretchers with wounded people, including young children, to the Nasser Hospital.
Footage shared on social media in the aftermath of the strikes shows pummels of smoke billowing from a fiery orange pit as people’s homes lie in ruins.
Witnesses in Gaza said Israeli tanks shelled areas in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, forcing many families who had returned to their areas after the ceasefire began to leave their homes and head north to Khan Younis.
A United Nations staffer in the Gaza Strip said it was ‘very tough night’ for everyone in Gaza, revealing that she woke to the sound of ‘very loud explosions’ and that once the strikes subsided, she heard ‘people yelling, people screaming and ambulances.’
‘The bombardments have continued throughout the night,’ said Rosalia Bollen, a communications specialist with the UN children’s agency. ‘The whole night, there’s been just the constant buzzing of drones and planes flying over.’
She said the strikes hit tents and structures housing displaced families. ‘We’re seeing, as of this morning, at least several dozen children killed,’ she added.
The IDF has issued evacuation orders to residents living on the edges of Gaza Strip, an area it has now designated as ‘dangerous combat zones’. Col. Avichay Adraee, in a post on X, advised Gazans to flee from the towns of Beit Hanoun, Khuza’a, and the Abasan suburbs of Khan Younis.
‘The IDF has launched a strong offensive against terror organizations. These designated areas are considered dangerous combat zones,’ he tweeted, also sharing a map of the communities included in the danger area.
‘For your own safety, you must evacuate immediately to known shelters in western Gaza City and in Khan Younis.’
He warned that remaining in the impacted region ‘puts your lives and the lives of your family members in danger.’
The picture was shared on social media following the impact of Israel’s renewed air strikes in Gaza
Smoke rises after Israel breaks the ceasefire at the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025
People displaced by conflict and fleeing from Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip arrive with their belongings in Gaza City on March 18, 2025
Netanyahu and Katz ordered the strikes on Tuesday morning, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. The plan for the air strikes ‘was presented by the IDF over the weekend and approved by the political leadership’.
‘This follows 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,’ a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
‘Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.’
In Washington, a White House spokesman said Israel had consulted the US administration before it carried out the strikes, which the military claimed targeted mid-level Hamas commanders and leadership officials.
‘Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,’ White House spokesman Brian Hughes said.
The main group representing the families of hostages held in Gaza has slammed the decision to return to fighting, saying the move shows the government ‘chose to give up on the hostages.’
The Hostages Families Forum said ‘military pressure endangers hostages.’ It asked the government in a post on X why it ‘backed out of the agreement’ with Hamas that set out a release of all the living hostages in exchange for an end to the war.
‘We are shocked, angry, and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas,’ the group said.
The group, which says the ‘hostages are in grave danger’, has issued an ’emergency call’ to protest and is headed to Jerusalem to demonstrate today.
‘There is nothing more urgent than this! With each passing day, the danger to the hostages grows. Military pressure could further endanger their lives and complicate efforts to bring them home safely,’ the statement added.
Negotiating teams from Israel and Hamas had been in Doha as mediators from Egypt and Qatar sought to bridge the gap between the two sides after the end of an initial phase in the ceasefire, which saw 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais returned in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
With the backing of the United States, Israel had been pressing for the return of the remaining 59 hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for a longer-term truce that would have halted fighting until after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday in April.
However Hamas had been insisting on moving to negotiations for a permanent end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, in accordance with the terms of the original ceasefire agreement.
‘We demand that the mediators hold Netanyahu and the Zionist occupation fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement,’ the group said.
Israel announced on March 2 it would be suspending the entry of all goods and supplies into Gaza over a dispute around the timing of the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
In a recent attack, Israel targets tents housing displaced Palestinians in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, Gaza, resulting in numerous casualties on March 18, 2025. The strikes rendered many of the tents uninhabitable
People displaced by conflict and fleeing from Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip arrive carrying their belongings in Gaza City on March 18, 2025
Palestinians mourn loved ones who were killed in the Israeli air strikes overnight as the bodies of the deceased are taken from the Nasser Hospital morgue in Khan Yunis on March 18, 2025
Each side has accused the other of failing to respect the terms of the January ceasefire agreement, and there were multiple hiccups during the course of the first phase. But until now, a full return to the fighting had been avoided.
Israel had blocked deliveries of aid from entering Gaza and had threatened on numerous occasions to resume fighting if Hamas did not agree to return the hostages it still holds.
The army did not provide details about the strikes carried out in the early hours of Tuesday but Palestinian health authorities and witnesses reported damage in numerous areas of Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are living in makeshift shelters or damaged buildings.
A building in Gaza City, in the northern end of the strip was hit and at least three houses were hit in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. In addition, the strikes hit targets in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, according to medics and witnesses.
Among those killed was senior Hamas official Mohammad Al-Jmasi, a member of the political office, and members of his family, including his grandchildren who were in his house in Gaza City when it was hit by an airstrike, Hamas sources said.
The terror group has also named Head of Government Work Follow-up Issam al-Dalis, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice Ahmed al-Hatta, and Director General of the Internal Security Service Abu Sultan among the deceased.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels denounced the Israel’s ‘resumption of aggression against the Gaza Strip’ and vowed to escalate their own operations, indicating a possible renewal of the Houthis’ strikes on shipping in the Red Sea.
‘The Palestinian people will not be left alone in this battle, and Yemen will continue its support and assistance, and escalate confrontation steps,’ a statement from the group’s Supreme Political Council said.
The US launched new airstrikes over the weekend targeting the Houthis in Yemen in retaliation for its attacks on shipping. At least 53 people were reported killed.
Trump on Monday warned Iran would ‘suffer the consequences’ for any further Houthi attacks, threatening to widen the conflict further.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 18, 2025
A woman searches through the rubble of her home, destroyed in an Israeli strike, for salvageable items at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 18, 2025
Men transport items they salvaged from the rubble of their homes, destroyed in an Israeli strike, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip
A man carries items he salvaged from the rubble of his home, destroyed in an Israeli strike, as he walks through the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip
Netanyahu has come under mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests planned over his handling of the hostage crisis and his decision to fire the head of Israel’s internal security agency.
He also faces demands from his hardline allies not to allow any deal in Gaza that falls short of Hamas’ destruction. Negotiations with Hamas over a second phase could have brought pressure for compromises over how Gaza will be ruled in the future.
Much of Gaza now lies in ruins after 15 months of fighting, which erupted on October 7, 2023 when thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and abducting 251 hostages into Gaza over the continued occupation of Palestinian land.
The Israeli campaign in response has killed more than 48,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and destroyed much of the housing and infrastructure in the enclave, including the hospital system.
