Deir Al-Balah, Gaza. Israeli airstrikes killed at least 58 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, targeting multiple homes, according to three hospitals. The strikes occurred in the middle of the night, killing men, women, and children as they slept.

Israel resumed heavy bombardments on Tuesday, ending a ceasefire that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israeli officials blamed the renewed conflict on Hamas, accusing the militant group of rejecting a new proposal that deviated from the previous agreement.

More than 400 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. No reports have surfaced indicating Hamas has fired rockets or conducted other attacks since the ceasefire broke.

Early Thursday, the Israeli military intercepted a missile launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels before it reached Israeli airspace. Air raid sirens and interceptor explosions were heard over Jerusalem. No injuries were reported. It was the second such attack since the United States launched airstrikes against the rebels earlier this week.

One of the Israeli strikes on Gaza early Thursday hit the Abu Daqa family's home in Abasan al-Kabira, near Khan Younis. The house was inside an area the Israeli military had ordered evacuated earlier this week. The strike killed at least 16 people, mostly women and children, according to the European Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included a father and his seven children, as well as the parents and brother of a month-old baby who survived along with her grandparents.

“Another tough night,” said Hani Awad, a volunteer helping rescue workers search the rubble. “The house collapsed on top of them.”

There was no immediate response from the Israeli military regarding the latest strikes. Israel maintains that it only targets militants and attributes civilian casualties to Hamas’s presence in residential areas.

Israeli Ground Troops Advance

On Wednesday, Israeli ground forces advanced into Gaza for the first time since the ceasefire took effect in January, seizing part of a corridor separating the northern and southern sections of the territory.

Israel, which has restricted food, fuel, and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million residents, has vowed to intensify operations until Hamas releases 59 remaining hostages—35 of whom are believed to be dead—and surrenders control of the territory.

Hamas has stated it will only release the hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as outlined in the January ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar. The militant group has indicated a willingness to hand over power to the Palestinian Authority or an independent committee but insists on maintaining its armed forces until Israel ends its decades-long occupation.

‘A Bloody Night’ in Northern Gaza

The European Hospital in Rafah reported receiving 36 bodies after the overnight airstrikes, most of them women and children. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received seven fatalities and transferred four to the European Hospital. In northern Gaza, the Indonesian Hospital reported 19 deaths from strikes in Beit Lahiya near the Israeli border.

“It was a bloody night for Beit Lahiya,” said Fares Awad, head of emergency services in northern Gaza. He added that rescuers were still searching the rubble. “The situation is catastrophic.”

Beit Lahiya was largely destroyed during the initial phase of the war before the January ceasefire. On Wednesday, an Israeli strike on a gathering of mourners there killed 17 people, according to health officials.

No End in Sight for the 17-Month War

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Most of the captives have since been freed through ceasefire agreements and other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight hostages alive and recovered the bodies of dozens more.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive—one of the deadliest and most destructive in recent history—has killed nearly 49,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between militants and civilians but states that more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel claims to have killed approximately 20,000 militants, though it has not provided evidence.

The conflict has displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s population and caused widespread destruction. Hundreds of thousands of people returned to their homes during the ceasefire, only to find them reduced to rubble.

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