Tel Aviv, March 18 (Agencies/Al Jazeera/Dawn) – Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri has told AFP that Israeli strikes that killed more than 48,500 people overnight in the Gaza Strip were an attempt to force the group’s “surrender”, and called the United States “complicit” in the escalation. Israel put the toll at over 1100.

“The aim of the massacres committed by the occupation in Gaza is to undermine the ceasefire agreement and attempt to impose a surrender agreement, writing it in the blood of Gaza,” Abu Zuhri told AFP in a statement.

On the contrary, the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says Israel had ‘no alternative’ to resuming Gaza operations

“Without the release of our hostages, Israel has no alternative but resuming military operations”, he said on X after Israeli strikes killed more than 400 people in Gaza, accusing Hamas of rejecting an offer to extend the ceasefire’s first phase that ended earlier this month.

The Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has called for the international community to “compel” Israel to end its “aggression” in Gaza. Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh condemned the strikes in a statement and called on “the international community to compel the occupation to stop its aggression against our people everywhere in the Gaza Strip”, while Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa issued a similar call during a Palestinian Authority cabinet meeting.

“Save the Children” has condemned the resumption of the onslaught, saying the international community “cannot turn a blind eye as children in Gaza once again are at risk of being killed, maimed, displaced, starved, and left even more vulnerable to disease and the elements”, Al Jazeera reports.

Rachael Cummings, Save the Children’s humanitarian director based in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, said the collapse of the ceasefire was “nothing short of a death sentence for Gaza’s children.”

The denial of aid coinciding with the start of the holy month of Ramadan also amounts to “a grave violation against children”, Cummings said.

“We demand an immediate and definitive ceasefire and restrictions on humanitarian aid to be immediately lifted,” she added. “Anything less is a catastrophic failure to uphold international humanitarian law and protect the most vulnerable.”

Dozens of children were among the more than 400 victims killed by Israeli air strikes in recent hours.

The EU’s aid commissioner has called for an immediate end to the renewed violence in Gaza, after Israel unleashed its most intense strikes since a ceasefire, AFP reports.

“The renewed escalation in Gaza is devastating. Civilians have endured unimaginable suffering. This must stop,” commissioner Hadja Lahbib wrote on X, saying “it is imperative to return to a ceasefire immediately”.

Fuelling ‘hell on earth’ by resuming war will only bring more despair: UNRWA chief UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) ommissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has issued a statement about Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

“Awful scenes of civilians killed among them children following waves of heavy bombardment from Israeli Forces overnight,” he wrote on social media.

“Fueling ‘hell on earth’ by resuming the war will only bring more despair & suffering,” Lazzarini added. “A return to the ceasefire is a must.”

Hamas says head of its government in Gaza killed in Israeli strike

Hamas has named the head of its government in the Gaza Strip, Essam al-Dalis, among a list of officials it said were killed in a wave of Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory, AFP reports.

“These leaders, along with their families, were martyred after being directly targeted by the Zionist occupation forces’ aircraft,” said the Hamas statement, which also named interior ministry head Mahmud Abu Watfa and Bahjat Abu Sultan, director-general of the internal security service, among those killed.

Hamas denies Israel’s allegations of preparations to launch attack: report

Hamas denies Israel’s allegations regarding preparations from group to launch an attack, say they are baseless and pretext to justify return to onslaught, Reuters reports.

Pre-planned Attack  

Xavier Abu Eid, a political analyst and former adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization, says Israel’s forced displacement order for some neighbourhoods in Gaza shows it was planning a “new invasion”, Al Jazeera reports.

“If you look at the map (identifying areas Palestinians should evacuate from), it’s very clear what Israel’s military is doing,” he told Al Jazeera.

“They are taking several positions within all the border between Gaza and Israel — from the north to the south — so clearly what we are witnessing is not just a show of force or strength, but a new escalation, a new invasion you may want to call it.”

He added, Al Jazeera reports, that Netanyahu, backed by the Trump administration, “feels that he has a green light to continue the war as he pleases”.

Israeli hardliner Ben-Gvir to rejoin Netanyahu government

Former Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who left the government over disagreements about the ceasefire in Gaza, is rejoining the coalition, a joint party statement said, after Israel resumed strikes on the enclave, Reuters reports.

Ben-Gvir’s return will strengthen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which was left with only a thin parliamentary majority following his departure in January

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