- Bombardments resume after nearly two months of calm
- Israel says its forces have begun a focused ground operation
CAIRO/JERUSALEM, March 19 (Reuters) – The Israeli military said on Wednesday its forces resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip, as a second day of airstrikes killed at least 48 Palestinians, according to local health workers.
The renewed ground operations came a day after more than 400 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in one of the deadliest episodes since the beginning of the conflict in October 2023, shattering a ceasefire that has largely held since January.
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The Israeli military said its operations extended Israel’s control over the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza, and were a “focused” manoeuvre aimed at creating a partial buffer zone between the north and the south of the enclave.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said the ground operation and the incursion into the Netzarim Corridor were a “new and dangerous violation” of the two-month-old ceasefire agreement. In a statement, the group reaffirmed its commitment to the deal and called on mediators to “assume their responsibilities”.
The United Nations said a strike killed a foreign staffer and wounded five workers at a U.N. site in central Gaza City on Wednesday. Gaza’s health ministry attributed the strike to Israel, but Israel denied this, saying it hit a Hamas site where it detected preparations for firing into Israeli territory.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the U.N. Office for Project Services, said: “Israel knew that this was a U.N. premises, that people were living, staying and working there, it is a compound. It is a very well-known place.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a full investigation and condemned all attacks on U.N. personnel. In a statement he said the strike brought to at least 280 the number of U.N. colleagues killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
In Sofia, the foreign ministry said a Bulgarian working for the U.N. died on Wednesday in Gaza, citing preliminary information.
US SAYS ‘BRIDGE’ PROPOSAL ON THE TABLE
Yosef Levi Sfari, Israel’s ambassador to Sofia, offered condolences for the Bulgarian citizen’s death and said in a social media post that the incident was being investigated. But he added that an initial examination found “no connection” to Israeli military activity.
Israel, which has vowed to eradicate Hamas, said on Tuesday that its latest onslaught in Gaza was “just the beginning”.
The U.S. State Department blamed Hamas for the resumption of hostilities and said there was still a U.S.-crafted “bridge” proposal on the table to extend the ceasefire and bring about the release of hostages held by the group in Gaza.
“The opportunity is still there, but it’s closing fast,” a State Department spokesperson said, adding that Hamas’ response was “totally unacceptable” and that the U.S. stood with Israel.
In the latest violence, local health workers said an Israeli airstrike killed four people and wounded 10 others in a house in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, where the army renewed evacuation orders to residents earlier on Wednesday.
In Beit Lahiya, an Israeli airstrike killed 24 people at a mourning tent, medics said.
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching the truce, which had offered a respite for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war reduced the enclave to rubble and forced most of its population to evacuate multiple times.
The Israeli campaign has killed more than 49,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities say, and caused a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food, fuel and water.
Israel has accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Hamas denies this and accuses Israel of indiscriminate bombings.
The war – the most devastating episode in decades of Israel-Palestinian conflict – was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which gunmen killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
PROTESTS IN ISRAEL
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to resume bombardments has triggered protests in Israel as 59 hostages are still held in Gaza, with 24 of them believed to be still alive.
A coalition of hostage families and Netanyahu critics has regrouped and accuses the prime minister of using the war for political ends.
Palestinian medics said Israeli tank shelling on the main north-south Salahuddin Road in Gaza killed one Palestinian and wounded others while medics and witnesses said the Israeli operations there deterred people and vehicles from using the road.
Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua told Reuters the effect of closing the Salahuddin Road was a “total coup” against the three-phase ceasefire agreement and a tightening of the blockade on Gaza.
He said the group would welcome any proposal “as long as it is based on launching negotiation on the second phase and a complete end to the war in Gaza”.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army dropped leaflets in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, once again ordering residents to evacuate their homes.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a video statement that if the hostages were not released, “Israel will act with force you have not yet seen”.
The renewed violence was condemned by some Western nations, including France and Germany, as well as Qatar and Egypt, which had been acting as mediators in the ceasefire negotiations.
Jordan’s King Abdullah called for the ceasefire to be restored and for aid flows to resume. “Israel’s resumption of attacks on Gaza is an extremely dangerous step,” he said on a visit to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.
