Israel launches wave of strikes across Gaza Strip, killing hundreds

Israel launched a wave of deadly strikes on Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, according to local health officials, seemingly bringing the fragile ceasefire to a halt.

The attack, greenlighted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, has killed more than 400 Palestinians, as the leaders press for the return of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

In a statement Tuesday, Netanyahu's office said the strikes follow “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.”

“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” the prime minister’s office continued, adding that the operational plan was presented by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) over the weekend.

National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes echoed those comments in a statement Tuesday to The Hill.

"Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war," Hughes wrote.

Some 404 people were killed in the barrage of attacks, according to the officials. The tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel said the attack was aimed at Hamas’s infrastructure and the group’s leadership.

Residents of the northern town of Beit Hanoun, along with “Khuza’a ruins, Abasan al-Kabira and al-Jadida” received orders from the Israeli military to “immediately” evacuate to shelters in western Gaza City and Khan Yunis.

“A major assault on terrorist groups underway — remaining in marked areas puts lives at risk,” an IDF spokesperson said.

The Israelis notified Washington before launching the deadly strikes into the war-torn enclave Tuesday morning, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

"The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight," Leavitt said Monday night on Fox News’s “Hannity.”

"As President Trump has made it clear: Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay,” Leavitt said. “All hell will break loose.”

At the beginning of this month, Netanyahu announced that Israel would halt all aid flowing into Gaza until Hamas agrees to a new ceasefire deal.

The Tuesday morning attack came roughly two months after the initial agreement to pause fighting, which came after more than 15 months of war. Hamas freed 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more individuals. In exchange, Israel released close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, The Associated Press reported.

The two sides have not been able to strike a deal to shepherd forward the second phase of the original agreement.

The initial conflict began after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, where the militant group killed some 1,200 Israelis and took around 250 people hostage. Israel responded with a bombardment campaign throughout the Gaza Strip, killing over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials and displacing 90 percent of the population in the enclave.

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