Israeli strikes overnight in Gaza have killed at least 60 people, including many children, local hospital officials said Wednesday, in what is likely the most serious challenge to the tenuous ceasefire deal in Gaza since it came into force earlier this month.
The development came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to conduct “powerful strikes” over Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the fragile ceasefire. Hamas said in response that it would delay handing over the body of another hostage.
The Aqsa Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah said at least 10 bodies, among them three women and six children, reached the hospital overnight after two Israeli airstrikes there. In southern Gaza, the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 20 bodies after five Israeli strikes in the area, of which 13 were children and two were women. Elsewhere in central Gaza, the Al-Awda Hospital said it received 30 bodies, of which 14 were children.
Netanyahu's order to launch strikes came after an Israeli official said its forces were fired upon in southern Gaza and after Hamas handed over body parts on Monday that Israel said were the partial remains of a hostage recovered earlier in the war.
The United States initially tried to play down the flare-up in violence, with US Vice President JD Vance saying he expected “skirmishes” to quickly die down.