Israel has launched a ground incursion into central Gaza, shattering hopes of a renewed truce, as the country’s defence minister warned they would step up attacks “with an intensity… not seen before”.
The Israeli military said it had resumed “targeted ground activities” in central and southern Gaza to retake part of the strategic Netzarim corridor, an area that cuts the besieged territory in half.
This came a day after its air force launched an intense wave of strikes, shattering a ceasefire and killing more than 400 people, including at least 130 children according to estimates, in one of the deadliest days in the 17-month conflict.
On Wednesday, Israel escalated the violence as its troops pushed deeper into Gaza, with Israeli defence minister Israel Katz issuing a “final warning” to the people in Gazans that unless the hostages were returned and the Hamas militant group eliminated, “the alternative is complete destruction and devastation”.
Palestinian families in the north and east of the strip told The Independent they were forced to flee their homes again, after Israeli quadcopters dropped leaflets telling them to “evacuate”.
In a sign of the spiralling violence, also on Wednesday, the United Nations said a foreign staffer was killed and four others wounded when an “explosive device” was dropped on one of its headquarters in the centre of the strip despite the location being known to all parties involved in the conflict.
The Israeli military denied involvement in a statement to The Independent.
Defence minister Katz warned that increase in military activity was “just the first step”.
“The rest will be much more difficult, and you will pay the full price. If all the Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not eliminated from Gaza, Israel will act with an intensity you have never seen before,” he said in a bleak warning.
“Take the advice of the US president: return the hostages and eliminate Hamas, and other options will open up for you, including going to other places in the world for those who wish.
“The alternative is complete destruction and devastation.”
Israel launched a devastating offensive on Gaza in October 2023 in the wake of a bloody attack by Hamas on southern Israel, during which 1,200 people were killed and 250 hostages taken, according to Israeli estimates.
Since then, Israel’s ferocious bombardment has killed more than 49,000 people in the besieged strip, according to Palestinian health authorities, and caused a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food, fuel, and water.
In January, the US, Qatar, and Egypt negotiated a three-phased ceasefire offering respite for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war that has reduced the enclave to rubble and forced most of its population to evacuate multiple times.
The first phase, which expired two weeks ago, saw Hamas hand over 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians.
Phase two, which is yet to be fully negotiated, was supposed to pave the way for a long-term ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the return of the remaining hostages.
But Israel accused Hamas of violating the terms of the deal and imposed a full blockade on aid two weeks ago. On Tuesday they launched a surprise wave of airstrikes, so intense they were described by international medics on the ground as an “armageddon”.
Doctors in three different hospitals in the strip told The Independent of emergency rooms flooded with injuries, including children with severed limbs. Palestinian surgeon Khaled al-Ser at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis described picking through the “melted” remains of civilians at the morgue, only to find the body of his nine-year-old cousin.
Dr Ser described the horror of what he saw in such gruesome detail that The Independent has decided not to publish the graphic scenes.
Dr Mohamed Abu al-Salmiya, the director of Shifa hospital, which until intense Israeli bombardment was Gaza’s largest medical centre, said they were struggling to treat children with severe burns because they lacked medicines, painkillers, and anaesthesia.
At Ahli hospital also in Gaza City, Muhammad Abuafash, director of Palestinian Medical Relief, said they were having to amputate children’s limbs despite lacking basic surgical supplies because of the aid restrictions.
In Israel, meanwhile, families of the hostages still held by militants, in desperation, took to the streets demanding that Israel halt the offensive, fearing their loved ones would be killed in the fighting.
“We must stop the fighting and immediately return to the negotiation table to reach a comprehensive agreement for the return of all hostages.”
