Ceasefire in tatters as Israeli strikes kill over 400 people in Gaza Strip

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes as Hamas had rejected his proposals to secure a ceasefire extension during faltering talks

- Reuters [e-mail]

JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza and killed more than 400 people, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday, in an onslaught across the enclave that ended weeks of relative calm after talks to secure a permanent ceasefire stalled.

Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas each accused the other of breaching the truce, which had broadly held since January, offering respite from war for the 2 million inhabitants of Gaza, where most buildings have been reduced to rubble.

Hamas, which still holds 59 of the 250 or so hostages Israel says the group seized in its October 7, 2023 attack, accused Israel of jeopardizing efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting, but the group made no threat of retaliation.

"Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," the Israeli prime minister's office said in a statement.

The strikes hit houses and tent encampments from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip, and Israeli tanks shelled from across the border line, witnesses said. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 404 people had been killed in one of the biggest single-day tolls since the war erupted.

Egypt and Qatar, mediators in the ceasefire deal along with the US, condemned the Israeli assault. The UN emergency relief coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said the "modest gains" made during the ceasefire had been destroyed.