After a two-month ceasefire, fighting has resumed in Gaza after Israel launched a series of airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave earlier this week. More than 400 people were killed even before ground operations resumed.
At least 91 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes overnight and Thursday across the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-led health ministry. Five UN staffers were also killed, according to the head of UNRWA.
UNRWA head Philip Lazzarini said on Thursday:
“Over the past few days, five more UNRWA staff have been confirmed dead, bringing the death toll to 284. They were teachers, doctors and nurses who were helping the most vulnerable people.”
The head of the UN agency added that he feared “the worst was yet to come.” He also noted:
“Under our daily watch, people in Gaza are reliving their worst nightmare again and again. The endless application of the most inhumane measures.”
Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to Britain, told Sky News that the ceasefire was broken by Hamas primarily because they “stopped releasing our hostages.”
Earlier, speaking in Parliament, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the British government was opposed to renewed Israeli military action, and added that a British citizen was among those wounded in Wednesday’s shelling of the UN compound.
Broken ceasefire
Israel has previously said it only strikes militants and blamed Hamas for civilian deaths because it operates in densely populated areas. Israel denied previous reports that it had struck the UN compound.
On Tuesday, Israel resumed massive airstrikes on the enclave that killed more than 400 people, triggering a ceasefire that halted fighting in the 17-month war. A day later, Israeli troops resumed ground operations, capturing part of the key corridor separating north and south Gaza, the Netzarim corridor.
Meanwhile, Hamas fired three rockets into Israel without causing casualties. It was the first such firing since the Israel Defence Forces resumed strikes.
Hospitals across Gaza said the strikes hit residential homes in Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza and the northern town of Beit Lahia. The European Hospital in Rafah said 26 people, mostly women and children, were killed in overnight shelling of two family homes. One of the attacks killed a father and his seven children. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received the bodies of seven people killed in an overnight attack on a residential building.
