At least 85 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory.
Hours later, Israel’s military reported intercepting three rockets, which Hamas’s armed wing claimed to have fired at Tel Aviv in retaliation.
This follows Israel’s resumption of its bombing campaign and ground operations in Gaza earlier this week. The health ministry stated that over 430 people have been killed in airstrikes over the past two days.
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the launch of a ground operation in northern Gaza. This marks a return to large-scale military action after a ceasefire had been in place since January.
Gaza’s health ministry also confirmed that 133 people were injured in the latest attacks on Thursday.
Israel renewed its attacks on Tuesday after negotiations to extend the ceasefire stalled, warning that operations would escalate until Hamas releases the remaining hostages.
Israel claims that Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, with 24 believed to still be alive.
IDF spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee stated that Hamas fired three rockets from southern Gaza. One was intercepted, while the other two landed in an “open area,” he wrote in a post on X.
Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said it had initiated “targeted ground activities” aimed at establishing a “partial buffer between the north and south” of Gaza, describing it as a “limited ground operation.”
Col Adraee said forces were deployed up to the centre of a strip, known as the Netzarim Corridor, which divides northern and southern Gaza.
Meanwhile, five staff members of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa were among those killed over the “past few days”, the agency’s chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X.
“They were teachers, doctors and nurses,” he added, warning that “the worst is yet to come” amid the ongoing ground invasion.
On Wednesday, the UN reported that one of its staff members was killed after its compound in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, was damaged. While the exact circumstances remain unclear, Jorge Moreira, head of the UN Office for Project Services, stated that the incident was “not an accident” and “at least an incident.”
Gaza’s health ministry attributed the damage to an Israeli strike, claiming it also injured five others. However, Israel’s military denied targeting the compound and said it was investigating the incident.
On Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed that a UK national was injured in the attack on the compound. This follows a charity’s report that one of its workers, a 51-year-old British bomb disposal expert, had been wounded.
“Our priority is supporting them and their family at this time,” he told MPs.
At the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Qasim Abu Sharqiya said his two-year-old son, Omar, had been born through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) after five years of trying.
“They bombed a tent next to us and he died,” he told AFP. “Omar is my only son, oh world, and I have no one else.”
A doctor there, Tanya Haj Hassan, told the BBC’s Newshour that she had heard of at least 76 people who “didn’t even make it into the ER” but were taken “straight to the mortuary”.
She recalled “a level of horror and evil that is really hard to articulate – it felt like Armageddon”.
Elsewhere, Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at Israel on Thursday, aiming for Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the Iran-backed group’s military spokesperson said.
No injuries were reported and the IDF said the missile was stopped before entering Israel.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that it had “resumed combat in full force” and any ceasefire negotiations would now take place “under fire”.
A group representing hostages’ families has accused the Israeli government of choosing “to give up the hostages” by launching new strikes.
Israel and Hamas have failed to agree how to take the ceasefire beyond the first phase, which expired on 1 March.
Hamas did not agree to a renegotiation of the ceasefire on Israel’s terms, although it offered to release a living American hostage and four hostages’ bodies as mediators tried to prolong the ceasefire.
Israel blocked all food, fuel and medical supplies entering Gaza at the beginning of March in order to put pressure on Hamas. It accused Hamas of commandeering the provisions as part of its strategy against Israel, though did not provide evidence for this claim.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed and 251 other taken hostage. Twenty-five Israeli and five Thai hostages were released alive during the first phase of the ceasefire.
Israel responded to the 7 October attack with a massive military offensive, which had killed more than 48,500 Palestinians, mainly civilians, before Israel resumed its campaign, the Hamas-run health ministry says. Israel’s offensive has also caused huge amounts of destruction to homes and infrastructure.