Netanyahu vows more to come as deadly strikes shred ceasefire deal with Hamas

TEL AVIV, Israel — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said airstrikes this week against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip were “only the beginning” of renewed combat as Israel faced broad condemnation for breaking a shaky ceasefire and carrying out its deadliest bombardment in a 17-month-old war with the Palestinian militant group.

Israel said the strikes targeted senior figures in Hamas, but Palestinian sources said many women and children were among more than 400 people killed and more than 600 wounded. Mr. Netanyahu said in a nationwide address that the attacks would continue until Hamas is destroyed as a fighting force and the remaining hostages and hostage remains the group holds are recovered.

The two sides traded blame for the breakdown of the ceasefire, which brought a brief respite to the densely populated Palestinian enclave. Talks on moving to a second phase of the ceasefire pact have broken down over disagreements on the long-term arrangements for governance and security in Gaza. Israel said the Trump administration had been informed of the strikes before they were carried out late Monday evening.

Mr. Netanyahu said the joint attack by the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency, known as Shin Bet, was aimed at achieving the return of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing operations in the Palestinian enclave.

“This follows Hamas’ repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators,” said a statement released by the prime minister’s office. “From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force.”

The Associated Press reported that Israel’s military ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza and head toward the center of the enclave, a sign that Israel could launch renewed ground operations. Aid groups warned that humanitarian supplies were running out two weeks after Israel cut off all food, medicine, fuel and other goods to Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians, the wire service reported.

Hamas officials accused the Netanyahu government of attacking “defenseless civilians” and vowed revenge. They said Israel bore the sole responsibility for violating the ceasefire and suggested that Israel’s move could put the hostages in danger.

The militant group also said the Trump administration bore a share of the blame and would suffer the consequences. “With its unlimited political and military support for the [Gaza] occupation, Washington bears full responsibility for the massacres and the killing of women and children in Gaza. The international community is urged to take immediate action to hold the occupation and its supporters accountable for these crimes against humanity,” Hamas said.

Egypt and Qatar, which, along with the U.S., were key mediators in the original ceasefire deal, condemned the Israeli assault, as did several top European governments. Public protests against the Netanyahu government were held in Israel.

An almost two-month ceasefire paused a war that began after Hamas launched a rampage into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF resumed airstrikes at targets inside Gaza because of threats from Hamas against Israeli troops and communities near the border and its refusal to release the hostages.

“If Hamas does not release all the hostages, the gates of hell will open in Gaza, and the murderers and rapists of Hamas will face the IDF with intensities they have never known before,” Mr. Katz said, according to Israel National News. “We will not stop fighting until all the hostages return home and all the war objectives are achieved,” he said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to Fox News on Monday night that the “Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight.” She said the bombing fit with a broader campaign by Israel and the U.S. to target hostile actors across the Middle East.

“As President Trump has made it clear, Hamas, the Houthis, Iran — all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America — will see a price to pay,” she said.

The top human rights official at the United Nations sharply criticized Israel’s resumption of the bombing campaign in Gaza and the risk of another round of deadly fighting in the region.

“I am horrified by last night’s Israeli airstrikes and shelling in Gaza,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement. “This nightmare must end immediately. The last 18 months of violence have made abundantly clear that there is no military path out of this crisis.”

As Israel launched airstrikes into the Gaza Strip, officials closed schools in communities near the border until further notice.

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.