Israel’s renewed bombardment of Gaza is continuing for a third consecutive day, with more than 70 people killed in predawn attacks, including a newborn baby.
At least 71 people were killed overnight and early on Thursday in southern and northern Gaza, according to health officials in the coastal enclave. Many others were injured in the attacks.
Palestinian news outlet Quds News Network said at least 20 people were killed in Khan Younis in the south after Israeli forces struck several houses in the area.
Meanwhile, in northern Gaza, an attack on a family home in the as-Sultan neighbourhood, west of Beit Lahiya, killed at least seven people.
“The Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip have intensified, especially at dawn, when at least 11 residential buildings were flattened by the Israeli forces,” said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from central Gaza.
“We understand that the death toll has sharply increased to 71 Palestinians.”
“Among those victims who have been killed today were a newborn baby alongside children and women,” Abu Azzoum said.
“There has been a clear strategic approach that Israel has been using, which does not pass any sort of warning to civilians before striking the buildings that they are taking refuge in,” he added.
The latest killings come after Israel shattered the nearly two-month-long ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday. Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 710 Palestinians and injured 900 others, Khalil Al-Daqran, spokesperson for the Gaza Ministry of Health, told Al Jazeera Arabic. About 70 percent of the injured are children and women, he added.
UN demands answers
On Wednesday, a United Nations foreign staffer was killed and five other workers were wounded in an Israeli air raid on a UN site in central Gaza.
The UN humanitarian aid chief, Tom Fletcher, described the attack as “infuriating”.
He said the strikes targeted a “clearly designated” UN compound in Gaza, and the UN demands “answers” while “we grieve with the family of our colleague”.
“International law is clear. Civilians – including UN staff and humanitarian workers – must not be targeted. The international community must join us in insisting on a genuine investigation and accountability,” Fletcher said in a statement, without attributing blame for the killing.
Meanwhile, five staff members of the UN Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, have been killed in the past few days, the agency’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Thursday.
“In the past few days another five UNRWA staff have been confirmed killed, bringing the death toll to 284. They were teachers, doctors and nurses: serving the most vulnerable”, he said in a statement posted on X.
Israel’s resumption of attacks drew widespread condemnation, including from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said he was “outraged by the Israeli air strikes in Gaza”.
Taking over Netzarim corridor
As Israeli troops resumed ground operations in Gaza on Wednesday, they also reclaimed control of the Netzarim Corridor, effectively cutting off northern Gaza from the rest of the enclave.
Israel’s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Thursday that Palestinians wishing to travel from the north to the south should only do so via al-Rashid Street along the coast and should avoid approaching Israeli soldiers for their safety.
“The Israeli military’s move to reoccupy the Netzarim Corridor is bringing back bad memories from before the ceasefire,” said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City.
“During the ceasefire, Palestinians could cross it to get back to their homes in the north. But not any more. Now people’s movement is quite limited.
“Its reoccupation is a reminder that the Israeli military is advancing for a larger-scale operation,” he said, adding that before the truce, Netzarim served as a launching pad for many Israeli military operations and was “a death trap for many Palestinians”.
Israeli protest Netanyahu
The breakdown of the ceasefire has also been met with anger in Israel, where many support the families of captives seeking the return of their loved ones from Gaza.
Thousands of Israeli protesters massed in Jerusalem on Wednesday, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of resuming attacks on Gaza without regard for the safety of the captives still held in the coastal enclave.
In a statement cited by the Palestinian Information Center, Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou said the group remains committed to the original ceasefire framework signed in January and is engaging with mediators to “compel” Israel to adhere to it and halt its renewed assaults.
“We are working with mediators to spare our people from war permanently” and ensure that Israel withdraws from Gaza, al-Qanou said.
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.