Israel launches waves of strikes on Gaza, 400 reportedly killed

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was attacking what it called "terror targets" belonging to Hamas. The strikes are continuing and the IDF has issued fresh evacuation orders for many areas.

Mahmoud Abu Wafah, deputy interior minister in Gaza and the territory's highest-ranking Hamas security official, is among the dead. Three other senior officials were later reported killed.

This is the largest wave of air strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire began on 19 January. Talks to extend it have failed to reach an agreement.

Many people were having their pre-dawn meal, part of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when explosions started in Gaza, witnesses say.

They described a nightmarish situation, with fires and bodies everywhere, and wounded people desperate for treatment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz ordered the strikes on Tuesday morning, a statement from the prime minister's office said.

"This follows Hamas's repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators."

"Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," it added.

Israel says Hamas is still holding 59 hostages - all but one who were taken on 7 October 2023. Twenty-four of the hostages are believed to still be alive.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, warned Hamas to release all the hostages, stating "we will show no mercy on our enemies".

But a group representing hostages' families said the Israeli government "chose to give up the hostages".

The statement by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum expressed shock and anger at what it called the "deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones".

The group later issued an emergency call for a protest in Jerusalem, saying the hostages were "in grave danger".