Defense Minister says Israel “fighting again” in Gaza until all hostages were released

Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip (AP)-Hamas warned that the new air strikes of Israel violated the armistice in the early Tuesday and the fate of hostages in danger.

Israel said that the wave of air raids started over the Gaza strip because there are no progress in progress in ongoing talks to extend the ceasefire. It was not immediately clear whether the operation was a unique pressure tactic or whether the 17 -month -old war was resumed as a whole.

Hamas said that the Israel's government was responsible for a “non -provoked escalation” against Palestinians.

The Gaza Ministry of Health said at least 44 people were killed in the air strikes early Tuesday.

This is a breaking news update. The earlier history of AP follows below.

Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip (AP)-Israel started a wave of air raids over the Gaza Strip in the early Tuesday and said that it was hit on the Hamas goals in her most difficult attack on the area since a ceasefire in January.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had ordered the strikes due to a lack of progress in ongoing talks to extend the ceasefire. It was not immediately clear whether the operation was a unique pressure tactic or whether the 17 -month -old war was resumed as a whole.

“After Hamas has repeatedly refused to publish our hostages, this happens and rejected all offers that it received from the US presidential officer Steve Witkoff and the mediators,” said Netanyahus office.

Taher Nunu, an Hamas official, criticized the Israeli attacks. “The international community faces a moral test: either it allows it to return the crimes committed by the occupation army or forced an obligation to end aggression and war against innocent people in Gaza,” he said.

In Gaza, explosions could be heard in different places and ambulances came in the Al Aqsa Hospital in the center of Gaza.

The strikes came two months after reaching an armistice to pause the war. For over six weeks, Hamas published about three dozen hostages in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Since the first phase of the ceasefire two weeks ago, the pages could not be able to move forward with a second phase for the publication of the almost 60 remaining hostages and the end of the war. Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to resume the war, and at the beginning of this month, the entry of all food and aids broke down into the besieged area to put pressure on Hamas.

The war broke out from Hamas with the cross -border attack on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 more hostages. Israel replied with a military offensive in which, according to local health officers, over 48,000 Palestinians were killed, and displaced estimated 90% of the population of Gaza. The Ministry of Health of the Territory does not differentiate between civilians and militants, but says that more than half of the dead women and children were.

“From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” said Netanyahus office.

The ceasefire had made it easier for Gaza and admitted hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to resume what was left of their houses.

But the territory is with great destruction, without direct plans for reconstruction. A resumption of the war threatens to reverse all progress in the past few weeks to stop the humanitarian crisis of Gazas.

While the ceasefire largely continued to fight, Israel has left troops in the Gaza in the past two months and continued to agree to goals and claimed that the Palestinians tried to carry out attacks or approach troops in no-go zones.

According to the Palestinian officials, a number of strikes killed a total of 10 people last Monday.

Two strikes in the central gaza strip in the city refugee camp in Bureij. One met a school that served as protection for displaced Palestinians and killed a 52-year-old man and his 16-year-old nephew, according to the officers of the nearby Al-Aqsa Märyrerer Hospital, where the losses were taken. The Israeli military said that militants have been doing the explosives plant.

An earlier strike killed three men in Bureij. The Israeli military said that the men tried to plant an explosive device near the Israeli troops into the ground. The Gaza government led by Hamas said the men collect firewood.

In Syria, Israel confiscated a zone in the south after the overthrow of the long -time autocrat -Bashare -Assad. Israel says that it is a preventive security measure against the former Islamist insurgents that are now leading Syria, although its transitional government has not expressed any threats to Israel.

Strikes in the southern Syrian city of Daraa killed three people and wounded 19 more, including four children, a woman and three volunteers of civil defense, the Syrian civil protection authority said. It is said that two ambulances are damaged. Other strikes met military positions near the city.

The Israeli military said that it was aimed at military command centers and locations in southern Syria, which contained weapons and vehicles that belonged by Assad's forces. It was said that the presence of the materials was a threat to Israel.

In Lebanon, Israel said that two members of the militant group of the Hezbollah met in the South Libanian city of Yohmor. The Lebanon state news agency reported on two people killed in the strike and two wounded.

The military later said that there were further strikes at the Hezbollah locations in Lebanon without determining where. An American ceasefire between Israel and the Hisbollah came into force at the end of November and ended the 14-month war between the two sides, and each side repeatedly accused the other of violating the deal.

Since the beginning of the ceasefire in Gaza in mid -January, the Israeli armed forces have killed dozens of Palestinians who have entered its troops or have entered the military.

Nevertheless, the deal was difficult without an outbreak of great violence. In the first phase of the ceasefire, an exchange of some of Hamas was replaced in return for the free of the Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have tried to convey the next steps in the ceasefire.

Israel wants Hamas to publish half of the remaining hostages to promise a promise to negotiate a permanent ceasefire. Instead, Hamas would like to pursue the ceasefire achieved by the two sides, in which the negotiations in the more difficult second phase of the ceasefire begin, in which the remaining hostages are released and the Israeli forces would withdraw from the Gaza. It is believed that Hamas has 24 living hostages and the body of 35 others.

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The AP reporter Ghaith in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

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