GAZA: Zionist airstrikes pounded Gaza, killing more than 400 people, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday, threatening the complete collapse of a two-month ceasefire as the Zionist entity vowed to use more force to free captives held by Hamas. The Palestinian group accused the Zionist entity of breaching the ceasefire and jeopardizing efforts by mediators to secure a permanent truce. The health ministry in Gaza said the bodies of 413 people had been received by Gaza hospitals. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and work is underway to recover them,” it added.

The White House said the Zionist entity consulted US President Donald Trump’s administration before launching the wave of strikes, which the health ministry in Gaza said killed mostly women and children. Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had told the military to take “strong action” against Hamas in response to the group’s refusal to release the remaining captives and because of their rejection of ceasefire proposals.

Hamas accused Netanyahu of deciding to “resume war” after an impasse in truce negotiations, and warned that the return to fighting could be a “death sentence” for captives still alive in Gaza. The Zionist military described the attacks as a “preemptive offensive” aimed at thwarting Hamas’ ability to launch attacks against the Zionist entity and to rebuild and rearm its forces. It said it targeted “mid-ranking military commanders, leadership officials and terrorist infrastructure” belonging to Hamas.

The airstrikes also hit homes and tent encampments housing civilians from the north to south of the Gaza Strip and Zionist tanks shelled across the border line into the enclave, witnesses said. “It was a night of hell. It felt like the first days of the war,” said Rabiha Jamal, 65, a mother of five from Gaza City. “We were preparing to have something to eat before starting a new day of fasting when the building shook and explosions began. We thought it was over but war is back,” she told Reuters.

Netanyahu has vowed to eradicate his old foe Hamas. While the group has been weakened with relentless Zionist bombardment and ground offensives, it is still the dominant force in Gaza. Among those killed in airstrikes on their homes were Essam Addalees, the de facto head of the Hamas government, Ahmed Al-Hetta, deputy justice minister and Mahmoud Abu Watfa, the deputy minister of interior and head of the Hamas-run security services, Hamas said.

UN chief Antonio Guterres was “shocked” by the renewed strikes, a spokeswoman said, while UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “horrified”. Both Russia and China warned against an escalation, while Egypt and Turkey condemned the violence. The Zionist entity’s intense pressure on Hamas came as tensions flared elsewhere in the Middle East, which has seen the Gaza war spread to Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. Zionist media said the Zionist entity was opening shelters in multiple areas in commercial hub Tel Aviv to prepare for possible retaliation from Hamas or Yemen. It also ordered all schools near the Gaza border to shut for fear of attack.

The airstrikes earned Netanyahu a political boost. Former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who left the government over disagreements about the Gaza ceasefire, is rejoining the coalition after the resumption of Zionist strikes, a statement said, strengthening Netanyahu’s government.

Witnesses in Gaza contacted by Reuters said Zionist tanks shelled areas in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Bewildered children sat next to bagged-up belongings, ready to flee north again having returned to Rafah with the ceasefire. In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets smeared with blood were stacked up as casualties were brought in. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said 404 people had been killed in one of the biggest single-day tolls since the war erupted. The health ministry said many of the dead were children, and 562 people were injured.

The Zionist entity has halted aid deliveries into Gaza for over two weeks, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis. The Zionist military said its attacks would extend beyond airstrikes, raising the prospect that Zionist ground troops could resume fighting. As the Zionist entity launched its operation in Gaza, its forces have pressed on with an operation in the occupied West Bank which the military says is aimed at Iranian-backed groups in long-standing refugee camps.

Zionist jets have also struck targets in southern Lebanon and Syria in recent days as the military builds on gains it made during months of fighting against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and during the collapse of the former Syrian regime.

Egyptian mediators said they were surprised by the overnight airstrikes as negotiations a day earlier had been calm and they had not been notified, two Egyptian security sources said. They are now engaged in intense contacts to salvage the ceasefire and return to talks, they said. The Zionist campaign in Gaza has killed more than 48,000 people, and destroyed much of the housing and infrastructure in the enclave, including the hospital system.

In Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, AFP footage showed people rushing stretchers with wounded people, including young children, to the Nasser Hospital. Bodies covered with white sheets were also taken to the hospital’s mortuary. Mohammed Jarghoun, 36, was sleeping in a tent near his destroyed house in Khan Yunis when he was woken by huge blasts. “I thought they were dreams and nightmares, but I saw a fire in my relatives’ house. More than 20 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women.”

Ramez Alammarin, 25, described carrying children to hospitals southeast of Gaza City. “They unleashed the fire of hell again on Gaza,” he said of the Zionist entity, adding that “bodies and limbs are on the ground, and the wounded cannot find any doctor to treat them”. Families of Zionist captives in Gaza pleaded with Netanyahu to “stop the killing and disappearance” of their loved ones, and called for a protest in front of the premier’s residence. – Agencies