Attacks follow Israeli air raids that killed more than 400 Palestinians on Tuesday, breaking a months-long ceasefire.
At least 14 Palestinians have been killed in overnight and early morning Israeli attacks on Gaza, a day after more than 400 were killed across the besieged enclave.
The deadly Israeli attacks early on Wednesday targeted Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza, as well as Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood in the north. Tents housing forcibly displaced people were also hit, killing a mother and a child.
The Israeli army claimed in a statement that it struck a “Hamas military site” in northern Gaza overnight.
The attacks come after at least 404 Palestinians, many of them children, were killed as Israel resumed its full-fledged bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, shattering a fragile ceasefire with Hamas that had been in place since January 19.
In central Gaza, Palestinians reported an attack on a home near a mosque in the Deir el-Balah area, while Israeli helicopter fire and artillery shelling were reported east of the Bureij refugee camp on Wednesday.
media’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said people in Gaza were left “terrified, helpless and devastated” following the attacks amid the Israeli blockade of aid and electricity cuts.
“People are starving. They do not have access to food. The water desalination plant that was providing water for 500,000 Palestinians is not working [due to Israel cutting off electricity],” she said. “With all this happening, Palestinians wake up to a massive series of attacks in different areas of Gaza.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday the renewed bombing of Gaza was “only the beginning” and that Israel would press ahead until it achieves all of its war aims — destroying Hamas and freeing all the captives.
Tuesday’s attacks attracted widespread condemnation, including from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who said he was “outraged by the Israeli air strikes in Gaza”.
China’s European envoy Fu Cong regretted the “harm done to the hard-won ceasefire”. Several lawmakers in the United States also condemned the Israeli attacks, with Senator Bernie Sanders calling for an end to US military aid to Israel.
Israel’s opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid called on the public to rally against Netanyahu’s government, accusing it of having “no red lines” after resuming war in Gaza.
The entire nation must “come together and say: ‘Enough!’”, wrote Lapid in a post on X on Wednesday. “I’m calling on all of you – this is our moment, this is our future, this is our country. Take to the streets!” he added.
Thousands of Israelis packed a Tel Aviv square on Tuesday evening to demand the government resume negotiations for a captive deal.
Global condemnation
The main group representing the families of the captives held in Gaza accused the government of “deliberately dismantling” the ceasefire.
“Today Netanyahu did not open the gates of hell on Hamas. He opened the gates of hell on our loved ones,” said Einav Zangauker, whose son is among the captives.
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