JERUSALEM: Gaza rescuers said Israeli strikes close to a hospital in the Palestinian territory killed at least 28 people Tuesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the military would enter Gaza “with full force” in the coming days.
The release of 21-year-old Israeli-American Edan Alexander, who had been in Hamas captivity since their October 2023 attack on Israel, offered a brief pause in the fighting on Monday.
But the strikes resumed amid fierce new criticism of Israel’s tactics in the war.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 28 people were killed in Israeli strikes Tuesday around the European hospital in Khan Yunis. The Israeli military said it hit a Hamas “command and control centre”.
AFPTV footage showed large craters gouged into the ground and cracks in the courtyard outside the hospital. A damaged bus was lodged in one hole.
“Everyone inside the hospital -- patients and wounded alike -- was running in fear, some on crutches, others screaming for their children, while others were being dragged on beds,“ Amro Tabash, a local photojournalist, told AFP.
Earlier, the military said it had struck Hamas militants inside “a command and control centre” at Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Yunis.
Gaza’s health ministry said that strike killed two people. One of the dead was journalist Hassan Aslih, the civil defence said.
Israel had accused Aslih of participating in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks.
“In the very coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation,“ Netanyahu was quoted as saying in a statement released on Tuesday.
‘Under fire’
“Completing the operation means defeating Hamas. It means destroying Hamas,“ Netanyahu had said in the remarks made late Monday.
“There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way.”
The Israeli warnings came amid new condemnation of its war tactics.
UN relief chief Tom Fletcher called on the UN Security Council to take action “to prevent genocide” in Gaza as he gave a scathing account of Israel’s actions in the territory.
“Will you act -- decisively -- to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?” he said to UN ambassadors in New York.
In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron said that Netanyahu’s actions in blocking aid to Gaza were “shameful”.
Late Tuesday, the Israeli military urged civilians in several parts of northern Gaza to evacuate after it intercepted “two projectiles” fired from the territory.
The armed wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for rocket fire into Israel, which has been rare in recent weeks.
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid a deadlock over how to proceed with a January 19 ceasefire.
The Israeli government this month approved plans to expand its offensive, with officials talking of retaining a long-term presence in Gaza.
Israel says that its renewed bombardments are aimed at forcing Hamas to free hostages.
Netanyahu credited Alexander’s release on Monday to a combination of “our military pressure and the political pressure exerted by (US) President (Donald) Trump.”
This has been rejected by Hamas which has revealed it was engaged in direct talks with Washington on a ceasefire in Gaza.
Netanyahu thanked Trump for helping in the release and said he would be sending negotiators to Qatar on Tuesday to discuss remaining captives.
‘Over 50 percent will leave’
Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to start a Gulf tour that will also take him to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Netanyahu said late Monday that Israel was working to find countries willing to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli ministers have seized on a proposal initially floated by Trump for the voluntary departure of Gazans to neighbouring countries such as Jordan or Egypt, which have flatly rejected the proposal.
“We’ve set up an administration that will allow them (Gaza residents) to leave but... we need countries willing to take them in. That’s what we’re working on right now.” Netanyahu estimated that “over 50 percent will leave” if given the option.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Militants also abducted 251 people, of whom 57 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.
The Israeli offensive in retaliation for the attack has killed at least 52,908 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.
