Israeli Strikes Across Gaza Kill 404   03/18 06:16

   Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing at 
least 404 Palestinians, including women and children, according to hospital 
officials. The surprise bombardment shattered a ceasefire in place since 
January and threatened to fully reignite the 17-month-old war.

   DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza 
Strip early Tuesday, killing at least 404 Palestinians, including women and 
children, according to hospital officials. The surprise bombardment shattered a 
ceasefire in place since January and threatened to fully reignite the 
17-month-old war.

   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after Hamas refused 
Israeli demands to change the ceasefire agreement. Officials said the operation 
was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been 
consulted and voiced support for Israel's actions.

   The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza, including much 
of the northern town of Beit Hanoun and other communities further south, and 
head toward the center of the territory, indicating that Israel could soon 
launch renewed ground operations.

   "Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military 
strength," Netanyahu's office said.

   The attack during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could resume a war that 
has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread 
destruction across Gaza. It also raised questions about the fate of the roughly 
two dozen Israeli hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.

   A senior Hamas official said Netanyahu's decision to return to war amounts 
to a "death sentence" for the remaining hostages. Izzat al-Risheq accused 
Netanyahu of launching the strikes to try and save his far-right governing 
coalition and called on mediators to "reveal facts" on who broke the truce. 
Hamas said at least four senior officials were killed in Tuesday's strikes.

   There were no reports of any attacks by Hamas several hours after the 
bombardment, indicating it still hoped to restore the truce.

   The strikes came as Netanyahu comes 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. His latest testimony in 
a long-running corruption trial was canceled after the strikes.

   The main group representing families of the captives accused the government 
of backing out of the ceasefire, saying it "chose to give up on the hostages."

   "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 
Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

   Wounded stream into Gaza hospitals

   A strike on a home in the southern city of Rafah killed 17 members of one 
family, including at least 12 women and children, according to the European 
Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included five children, their 
parents, and another father and his three children.

   In the southern city of Khan Younis, Associated Press reporters saw 
explosions and plumes of smoke. Ambulances brought wounded people to Nasser 
Hospital, where patients lay on the floor, some screaming. A young girl cried 
as her bloody arm was bandaged.

   Many Palestinians said they had expected a return to war when talks over the 
second phase of the ceasefire did not begin as scheduled in early February. 
Israel instead embraced an alternative proposal and cut off all shipments of 
food, fuel and other aid to the territory's 2 million Palestinians to try to 
pressure Hamas to accept it.

   "Nobody wants to fight," Palestinian resident Nidal Alzaanin told the AP by 
phone from Gaza City. "Everyone is still suffering from the previous months," 
he said.

   Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 404 people were killed in the strikes 
and more than 560 had been wounded. It revised its confirmed count after saying 
earlier Tuesday that 413 were dead and 660 wounded. Rescuers were still 
searching the rubble for dead and wounded as the strikes continued. It was 
among the deadliest days of the war.

   US backs Israel and blames Hamas

   The White House sought to blame Hamas for the renewed fighting. National 
Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group "could have 
released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war."

   An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the 
unfolding operation, said Israel was striking Hamas' military, leaders and 
infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks. The 
official accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan new attacks. Hamas 
militants and security forces quickly returned to the streets in recent weeks 
after the ceasefire went into effect.

   Netanyahu's office said the Israeli leader held security consultations with 
senior officials. It did not provide further details.

   Talks on a second phase of the ceasefire had stalled

   The strikes came two months after a ceasefire was reached to pause the war. 
Over six weeks, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more 
in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in a first phase of the 
ceasefire.

   But since that ceasefire ended two weeks ago, the sides have not been able 
to agree on a way forward with a second phase aimed at releasing the 59 
remaining hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead, and ending the war 
altogether.

   Hamas has demanded an end to the war and full withdrawal of Israeli troops 
in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Israel says it will not 
end the war until it destroys Hamas' governing and military capabilities and 
frees all hostages -- two goals that could be incompatible.

   Netanyahu's office on Tuesday said Hamas had "repeatedly refused to release 
our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the U.S. presidential 
envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators."

   Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a 
promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas instead wants to follow the 
ceasefire deal reached by the two sides, which calls for negotiations to begin 
on the ceasefire's more difficult second phase, in which the remaining hostages 
would be released and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza.

   A return to war would allow Netanyahu to avoid the tough trade-offs called 
for in the second phase of the agreement and the thorny question of who would 
govern Gaza. It would also shore up his coalition, which depends on far-right 
lawmakers who want to depopulate Gaza and re-build Jewish settlements there.

   Gaza already was in a humanitarian crisis

   The war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct 
7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. 
Most have been released in ceasefires or other deals, with israeli forces 
rescuing only eight and recovering dozens of bodies.

   Israel responded with a military offensive that killed over 48,000 
Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced an estimated 
90% of Gaza's population. The territory's Health Ministry doesn't differentiate 
between civilians and militants, but says over half of the dead have been women 
and children.

   The ceasefire had brought some relief to Gaza and allowed hundreds of 
thousands of displaced Palestinians to resume to what remained of their homes.

   Netanyahu faces mounting criticism

   The released hostages, some of whom were emaciated, have repeatedly implored 
the government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining 
captives. Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken part in mass demonstrations 
calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages.

   Mass demonstrations are planned later Tuesday and Wednesday following 
Netanyahu's announcement this week that he wants to fire the head of Israel's 
Shin Bet internal security agency. Critics have lambasted the move as an 
attempt by Netanyahu to divert blame for his government's failures in the Oct. 
7 attack and handling of the war.

   Since the ceasefire in Gaza began in mid-January, Israeli forces have killed 
dozens of Palestinians who the military says approached its troops or entered 
unauthorized areas.

   Still, the deal has tenuously held without an outbreak of wide violence. 
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate the next steps 
in the ceasefire.