"Like Armageddon": Israel resumes its war on Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians

Israel resumed dense airstrikes crossed the Gaza Strip connected Tuesday, reportedly sidesplitting implicit 400 Palestinians and shattering a tenuous ceasefire statement that was signed successful January. Many families were conscionable opening to hole their pre-dawn Ramadan meals arsenic missiles descended from the sky.

Gaza's hospitals, decimated by Israeli bombardment implicit the past 17 months, rapidly filled up with the wounded, dormant and dying.

“The [emergency room] was conscionable chaos, patients everyplace connected the floor. There were astir apt 3 men and the remainder were each children, women, elderly, everybody caught successful their sleep, inactive wrapped successful blankets. Terrifying. A level of fearfulness and evil that its truly hard to articulate. It felt similar Armageddon,” 1 doc told CNN.

While the preceding 2 months were punctuated by deadly Israeli strikes, Tuesday's violative definitively marks a instrumentality to a warfare that has near Gaza's 2 cardinal inhabitants successful a humanitarian situation and wiped retired full families. The bureau of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Tuesday's strikes were lone the commencement of what's to come.

"This follows Hamas's repeated refusal to merchandise our hostages, arsenic good arsenic its rejection of each of the proposals it has received from U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators," Netanyahu's bureau said successful a statement. "Israel will, from present on, enactment against Hamas with expanding subject strength."

Israel and Hamas person repeatedly accused each different of violating the ceasefire and acting successful atrocious faith. According to the archetypal agreement, some sides were expected to speech prisoners crossed 2 phases, with the archetypal phase, ending by aboriginal March, followed by a afloat Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and imperishable ceasefire. But little than 2 days earlier the archetypal signifier was owed to expire, Israel, which has continued to motorboat attacks connected Gaza, backed a U.S. connection to widen the archetypal signifier for different 2 months portion demanding that Hamas merchandise the remaining hostages immediately.

Hamas, arguing that specified a connection contradicted the archetypal agreement, insisted connected further guarantees that Israel and the U.S. would grant signifier 2 arsenic soon arsenic possible. Israel, calling specified presumption unreasonable, rejected the counter-offer and resumed its blockade of assistance shipments and energy into the largely-destroyed enclave, hoping to enforce its broadside of the bargain and "ensure that Hamas is nary longer successful Gaza afterwards."

While Israel has insisted that it is acting to unafraid the merchandise of 24 surviving hostages inactive successful Gaza, a radical representing the hostages' families said that by breaching the ceasefire agreement, their authorities had "chose to springiness up the hostages" and were engaged successful a "deliberate dismantling of the process to instrumentality our loved ones." Family members person been astatine the forefront of anti-Netanyahu protests passim the war, accusing the the premier curate of utilizing their grief to prosecute a run of wide demolition against the Palestinians that has besides killed dozens of hostages.

According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, President Donald Trump and medication officials were consulted by Israel implicit its plans to onslaught Gaza.

“President Trump has made it perfectly wide that Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, and each those who question to dispersed terror, not lone against Israel but besides against the United States, volition wage a terms for their actions,” Leavitt said successful an interview with Fox News.

Democrats, who person vacillated implicit however overmuch to knock Israel oregon combat backmost against Trump, mostly remained soundless implicit the renewed Israeli offensive. When asked for his absorption connected CBS, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that helium didn't cognize the "exact details" of however the woody fell isolated and expressed anticipation that negotiations could resume. "I deliberation our authorities has to enactment truly hard to bring them backmost to the array and get the hostages home," helium said.

Other lawmakers did not hesitate to condemn Israel.

"The Israeli apartheid authorities has resumed its genocide, carrying retired airstrikes each crossed Gaza and sidesplitting hundreds of Palestinians," Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., posted connected societal media. "This comes aft a implicit blockade of food, electricity, and aid. They volition ne'er halt until determination are sanctions and an arms embargo."