At least 45 people were killed by airstrikes in Gaza late Wednesday and early Thursday as the resumption of Israel’s ground and air offensive left a trail of destruction observed by NBC News’ team on the ground.
The Israel Defense Forces launched fresh strikes across the Gaza Strip, killing dozens of people according to two hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis.
More than 30 of those killed were brought to the city’s European Hospital, while 13 were taken to Nasser Hospital, officials told NBC News. One family saw 12 of its members killed, including several children.
The strikes hit multiple homes in the middle of the night, with children among those killed as they slept, The Associated Press separately reported.
Sirens that had become increasingly rare during the ceasefire rang out in a number of areas in central Israel on Thursday, after projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip, the IDF said. NBC News’ team in central Israel reporting heard blasts around the same time.
In the hours ahead of the strikes, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz suggested that civilians in the enclave would “pay the full price” if the hostages who remain held by Hamas are not returned.
“Return the hostages and eliminate Hamas — the alternative is complete destruction and annihilation,” he said in an address to the Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday as the Israeli military continued to issue evacuation orders for areas it said were “battle zones.”
Hamas said in a statement late Wednesday that Israel’s ground offensive constituted a “new and dangerous violation of the signed ceasefire agreement.”
Thursday’s strikes came after more than 400 people were killed, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, when Israel resumed strikes across the enclave, breaking its fragile ceasefire with Hamas after two months of relative calm.
Both Israel and the United States have blamed Hamas for the renewed fighting, accusing the militant group of rejecting a proposal to extend the first phase of the current ceasefire agreement, despite that was not part of the original deal.
At least 59 hostages, both dead and alive, are thought to remain in Gaza out of around 250 taken captive during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.
Nearly 49,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave, according to local health officials, whose figures the World Health Organization has said in the past are reputable.
The resumption of war has already brought renewed devastation to the Gaza Strip, with babies and pregnant mothers among those killed when Israeli forces struck the tent camps in which they had sought shelter were struck by Israeli forces.
Among those killed was Afnan Fouad Al-Ghannam, 20, who was seven months pregnant, and her one-year-old son, Mohammad, when their shelter in the Muwasi tent camp was hit. While Muwasi has long been designated a humanitarian zone, it has been struck on multiple occasions during the war.
The boy’s father could be seen cradling his son, wrapped in a bloodied white shroud, in video captured by NBC News’ crew on the ground on Wednesday.
“I would give my life for you,” Alaa Abu Hilal, said, holding Mohammed in his arms.
“Your separation hurts me,” the father told the lifeless body of his young child. “Take care of your mother.”
Israel’s military sent ground troops back into Gaza on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the IDF said, marking a fresh escalation in its renewed attack on the enclave after breaking its ceasefire with Hamas on Tuesday.
The military said its “targeted ground operation” was focused on the central and southern Gaza Strip and that ground troops had retaken about half of the Netzarim corridor — the Israeli-built roadway that bisects Gaza and has been used to cut off traffic between its north and south.
While this week’s strikes have shattered what had often appeared to be a fragile ceasefire, Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanou said Thursday in a statement that talks with mediators were ongoing.
He added that he hoped negotiators would push Israel to “back down from its plan” and abide by the ceasefire deal agreed in January.
