Israel announced renewed ground operations in Gaza on Wednesday, March 19, and issued what it called a "last warning" to residents of the Palestinian territory to return hostages and remove Hamas from power.
This week, Israel conducted the deadliest wave of air strikes since the start of a truce in January, killing hundreds of people according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
The military said it had "begun targeted ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip to expand the security perimeter and create a partial buffer between the north and south."
As Israel kept up its renewed bombardment despite a chorus of calls from foreign governments to preserve the ceasefire, long lines of fleeing civilians filled the roads of Gaza on Wednesday. Families with young children fled northern Gaza for areas further south, fearing for their lives after Israel urged civilians to leave areas it described as "combat zones."
Fred Oola, senior medical officer at the Red Cross' field hospital in Rafah, said the renewed strikes had shattered the relative calm of the past two months. "Now, we can feel the panic in the air (...) and we can see the pain and devastation in the faces of those we are helping," he said in a statement.
Addressing the "residents of Gaza" – ruled by Hamas since 2007 – Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a video statement that "this is the last warning." "Take the advice of the president of the United States. Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you – including the possibility of leaving for other places in the world for those who want to."
He was referring to a warning earlier this month by US President Donald Trump, who said: "To the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!"
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war, 58 are still held by Gaza militants, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
So far, Hamas has not responded militarily to the strikes, but have rejected a push by Israel and the United States have sought to change the terms of the deal by extending phase one.
That would delay the start of phase two, which was meant to establish a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza while the remaining hostages are released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Israel and its ally the United States have portrayed Hamas's rejection of an extended phase one as a refusal to release more hostages.
The intense Israeli bombardment sent a stream of new casualties to the few hospitals still functioning in Gaza and triggered fears of a return to full-blown war after two months of relative calm.
A UN Office for Project Services employee was killed and at least five other people were wounded when a UN building in the central city of Deir el-Balah was hit, the agency said. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory blamed Israel, while the Israeli military denied striking the compound.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "shocked" by the staff member's death and called for "a full investigation," said spokesman Farhan Haq.
Hamas called the incident "part of (Israel's) systematic policy of targeting civilians and aid workers, aiming to terrorize them and prevent them from fulfilling their humanitarian duty."
Thousands of Israeli protesters massed in Jerusalem, accusing Netanyahu of resuming strikes on Gaza without regard for the safety of the remaining hostages.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Israel's raids on Gaza "are shattering the tangible hopes of so many Israelis and Palestinians of an end to suffering on all sides."
Meanwhile, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the new strikes on Gaza "unacceptable."