Gaza City: Israel announced new ground operations in Gaza on Wednesday and issued a so-called “last warning” to residents of the Palestinian territory to return to hostages and remove Hamas from power.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip Health Ministry, Israeli forces carried out the deadliest wave of air strikes this week, killing hundreds of people.
The military said that “ground operations have been started for the Central Gaza Strip and the southern Gaza Strip to expand the safe perimeter and create partial buffer zones between the north and the south”.
Israel continued to bomb new bombings despite foreign government calls for the ceasefire to remain and long queues fleeing civilians filled the road to Gaza on Wednesday.
Families with young children fled the southern region of Gaza and reached the southern region, where Israel urged civilians to leave the area described as a “fighting zone.”
Fred Oola, a senior medical officer at Rafa Red Cross Hospital, said the restrike has ruined the relative calm of the past two months.
“Now, we can feel the panic in the air…we can see the pain and destruction of the people we are helping,” he said in a statement.
“This is the last warning” Israeli Defense Minister Katz said in a video statement, addressing the “inhabitants of Gaza” (ruling since 2007).
“Accept the advice of the President of the United States. Go back to hostages and remove Hamas, other options will be open to you – including those who are likely to leave the rest of the world.”
He refers to the warning from U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month, saying: “To the people of Gaza: a bright future awaits, but if you take hostages.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7, 2023 attack, 58 are held by Gaza militants, including 34 of the Israeli military said they were dead.
deadlock
Hamas has not responded to the strike so far, and an official of the group said it was open to talks to bring the ceasefire back on track.
However, he rejected Israel’s request for a renegotiation of a three-stage deal that was consistent with the Egyptians, Katari and U.S. mediators.
“Hamas has not closed the door to negotiations yet, but we insist that there is no new agreement,” Taher al-Nunu told AFP, demanding that Israel “start the second phase of negotiations.”
Negotiations on how to conduct a ceasefire have stalled, with the first phase of the ceasefire expiring in early March.
Israel and the United States are trying to change the terms of the deal by extending the first phase – Hamas rejected the position.
This will delay the beginning of the second phase, which is to establish a lasting ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, while the remaining hostages are released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
“The transfer to the second phase seems to be Israel’s failure to participate,” said Ghassan Khatib, a political analyst and former Palestinian authoritative minister.
“They don’t like the second phase because it involves ending the war without having to achieve their goal of ending Hamas.”
“Broken” hope
Israel and its allies, the United States, rejected Hamas for a phase of refusal to release more hostages.
The intense Israeli bombing sent a series of new casualties to a few hospitals still working in Gaza and raised concerns about returning to the full-scale war after two months of relative calm.
The agency said the UN Project Services employee office was killed and at least five people were injured when a UN building in the central city of Deir El-Balah was attacked.
Hamas’s Ministry of Health blames Israel on the territory, while the Israeli military denies the strike.
Speaker Farhan Haq said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “shocked” by the death of staff and called for a “full investigation.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry later announced that the situation is under investigation, expressing grief over the death of Bulgarian citizens, UN workers, and stressed that it has nothing to do with IDF activities.
Hamas called the incident “part of (Israel’s) systematic policy aimed at intimidating and preventing them from fulfiling their humanitarian obligations”.
British Foreign Minister David Lammy said on X that he was “shocked” by the incident and that “it must be investigated transparently and be held accountable”.
Thousands of Israeli protesters have summoned in Jerusalem to accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of resuming strikes against Gaza without considering the safety of the remaining hostages.
“We hope he knows that the most important issue is to restore the hostages,” said Nehama Krysler, 67.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Israeli attack on Gaza is breaking the tangible hopes of many Israelis and Palestinians.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the new strike against Gaza “unacceptable”.
The war began with Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians.
At least 470 people have died in the territory since Israel recovered from Monday to Tuesday, Gaza Civil Defense Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said late Wednesday.
The agency reported 14 members of the same family during the Israeli strike in the north.
As of Monday, Gaza’s total death toll exceeded 48,570 since the war began, according to the region’s health ministry, ahead of the fierce strikes resumed.
