Netanyahu says Israel is in the middle of the war - which he claims they are winning - but says the military campaign is not over yet.

He says he highly appreciates "our American friends" in acting against Iran.

"There's one thing I'm certain of," he says. "We will beat them and we can overcome them."

He ends by saying: "We will win."

We'll wrap up the key lines from his statement for you shortly. Stay with us.

Netanyahu addresses the people of Israel directly.

"We have made incredible achievements up until today," he says, adding that "together we are changing the face of the Middle East".

He says the public must not believe Hamas propaganda and nothing will stop Israel from achieving its war aims.

Netanyahu, continuing to speak,says the strikes launched overnight and continued throughout today are “just the beginning”.

Israel will continue to fight to achieve its goals, he says, including the release of all hostages held by Hamas.

Israel has resumed combat in Gaza with full force, says Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu while giving a statement in Tel Aviv.

He adds that Israel made efforts to return the hostages, extended the first phase of the ceasefire by weeks, and sent delegations to Doha and Cairo.

He says Hamas rejected the proposals every time.

We'll bring you more from his statement shortly.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is speaking now, and we're going to bring you what he says in our next few posts.

It comes after the Israeli military launched overnight strikes on Gaza - the first since a ceasefire began in January.

You can follow our stream of the statement by tapping the watch live button at the top of the page.

Stay with us.

Image source, Reuters

While we wait to hear from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, here's a reminder of where we're at with the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

• 15 January: A long-awaited ceasefire is agreed by Israel and Gaza
• 19 January: The ceasefire's first phase begins - fighting stops, Israeli hostage and Palestinian prisoner releases begin, and aid is allowed back into Gaza
• 10 February: After successful hostage releases in previous weeks, Hamas pauses the next release, claiming Israel violated the ceasefire
• 11 February: Netanyahu warns Hamas it will end the ceasefire if the next hostages are not returned, as planned, by 15 February
• 15 February: Hamas goes ahead with the hostage release, freeing Alexander Troufanov, 29, Yair Horn, 46, and Sagui Dekel-Chen, 26
• 1 March: The first phase of the ceasefire ends. Talks between Israel and Hamas begin in Qatar, to negotiate terms for a second stage, which would include a permanent ceasefire
• 2 March: Netanyahu says Israel has accepted a plan by US envoy Steve Witkoff "to extend the temporary ceasefire by 50 days" to discuss the second stage; Hamas says this is "a blatant attempt to evade the agreement and avoid entering into negotiations for the second phase"
• 18 March: The Israeli military says it is carrying out "extensive strikes" in the Gaza Strip, with the Hamas-run health ministry reporting more than 400 Palestinians killed. It marks the largest wave of air strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire began

It always seemed likely the ceasefire would be broken, but what happens next is unclearpublished at 17:50 Greenwich Mean Time

17:50 GMT

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

The fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire which came into force on 19 January always seemed likely to be broken.

It came under greater strain once Israel, backed by the US, demanded to change its terms.

It wants to extend its first phase and see Hamas release more hostages, not move into the second stage which requires it to pull out its troops.

Hamas’s still very visible presence has sent a clear message to Israel that its war aim to destroy it has still not been realised. So Israel has been ramping up the pressure.

No aid has entered Gaza this month - a move, says Downing Street in the UK, and many others, that puts Israel at clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law.

It’s still not clear how long these strikes will last.

Israel media are full of speculation that there’s politics in this deadly mix - Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has to pass the national budget by the end of this month. His right-wing allies keeping him in power want the Gaza war to go on.

But the families of Israeli hostages still held there are angry too - knowing every day of war is a day which puts their loved ones at greater risk.

We're expecting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a statement in the next hour.

When that happens, we'll bring you his key points right here - plus you'll be able to watch along live at the top of this page.

Stay with us until then as we continue to bring you the latest.

Image source, United Nations

Following on from our last post, Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour has also been speaking at the Security Council meeting - saying last night's strikes on Gaza mean "the same images are back to haunt us".

"Small children on gurneys, little siblings injured and disoriented trying to comfort and reassure each other, entire families killed, children, mothers, fathers, searching for their loved ones under the rubble, not knowing if they are dead or alive," he says.

He tells the UN that there must be no reduction in Gaza's territory or forced displacement, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being "self-serving" and caring more about his political survival than the return of hostages.

Mansour also says US President Donald Trump has prioritised the release of hostages in the region - something the US's interim ambassador to the UN also said (you can read that in our last post).

Image source, Reuters

The US says Hamas is to blame for the renewed fighting in Gaza.

At a UN Security Council meeting, acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea says Hamas has rejected every proposal and deadline in recent weeks. That includes a plan to extend the ceasefire beyond Ramadan and Passover to allow time to negotiate a permanent truce.

Responding to claims of indiscriminate attacks by Israel’s military, Shea says the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are targeting Hamas positions and that "it is well known that Hamas continues to use civilian infrastructure as launching pads."

"President Trump has made clear that Hamas must release the hostages immediately or pay a high price, and we support Israel in its next steps," she tells delegates.

Earlier, Israel's government spokesman David Mencer said the country's return to fighting Hamas was "fully coordinated with Washington". Trump is yet to comment on the strikes.

Rushdi Abualouf
Gaza correspondent

We've reported some of these names already, but the key Hamas figures now confirmed killed in the overnight Israeli airstrikes are as follows:

• Yasser Harb, member of Hamas’ political bureau, along with his family
• Engineer Issam Al-Da’alis, Hamas government head and member of the political bureau
• Major General Mahmoud Abu Watfa, deputy interior minister in Gaza and the highest-ranking Hamas security official
• Brigadier General Bahjat Abu Sultan, head of Hamas’ Internal Security Agency, the group’s most powerful security apparatus
• Abu Omar Al-Hattah, Deputy Minister of Justice in Gaza

Meanwhile, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) - an allied armed group of Hamas - also confirmed the death of its spokesman Naji Abu Seif, otherwise known as Abu Hamza.

Video shows people buried under rubble at school site in Gazapublished at 15:58 Greenwich Mean Time

15:58 GMT

By Jake Horton

Image source, Instagram

A video verified by our team shows graphic images of first aid workers digging through rubble to find what appear to be dead bodies at the site of a school in northern Gaza.

The Al-Tabaeen school in Gaza City has been used to house displaced people during the conflict between Hamas and the Israeli military.

We know the video was taken at the site as you can see a distinctive courtyard in the footage, which matches previous images of the school.

Although the exact timing of the footage is unclear, it appears to have been taken at night and the first version of it we can find was from early on Tuesday.

The site has been hit previously - in August last year 80 people were reportedly killed in a strike there, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

At the time, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, without providing evidence, it had struck a "Hamas control centre" there. The IDF is yet to comment on the latest incident at the site.

We heard earlier that the Israeli government had given the White House notice before launching overnight strikes on Gaza, after an Israeli official told the BBC’s US partner CBS News as much.

Israel has since doubled down on that claim, with government spokesman David Mencer saying the return to fighting was "fully coordinated with Washington" - and thanking the Trump administration "for their unyielding support for Israel" and for the "fortification of Israel's security".

The alliance is "stronger than ever", he told reporters. Trump is yet to comment on the strikes.

BBC World Service's Emir Nader, who was at the news conference, asked Mencer for his response to the families of hostages who say the government has given up on those still being held by Gaza and is pulling out of a deal that would have brought everyone home.

"It is Hamas that took these hostages," Mencer responded to the question, arguing that Hamas "could set them free" if it wanted to. "Hamas cannot be trusted," he added.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Israel's President Isaac Herzog has taken to social media, saying the Israeli military's "renewal of fighting" in Gaza has two main goals: "The critical moral goal of returning the kidnapped, and of course restoring full security to all residents of the State of Israel."

In the post, he acknowledges that the overnight strikes on Gaza are "a cause for concern for many", and that's why it's important for him "to emphasise that fighting is not an end in itself" - but a tool to achieve the goals Herzog outlines above.

He also urges the government to listen to the families of the hostages and calls on all Israelis to show sensitivity towards them in "this difficult time".

We can now bring you some images from outside the Knesset (Israel's parliament), where members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum have gathered to protest.

They're holding up signs, some with images of those still being held by Hamas, calling on the Israeli government to "bring them home".

In an earlier statement, some of the families said officials had chosen to "give up" on hostages by launching the overnight strikes on Gaza.

Here's what we're seeing:

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA

With families of the hostages still in Gaza protesting against Israel's decision to resume fighting (see our last post), here's a reminder of how many people were freed as part of the first phase of the ceasefire - and how many remain.

Some 25 Israeli hostages were released, alive, between 19 January 2025 - when the long-awaited Israel-Hamas ceasefire began - and the end of February.

Among them were Eli Sharabi (shown above)and Emily Damari, a British-Israeli dual citizen who was one of the first people to be released under the deal.

Hamas also handed over the bodies of another eight hostages. Five living Thai nationals were released too - but this was part of a separate deal.

In exchange, around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners were freed from Israeli jails - images showed emotional family reunions in the occupied West Bank.

Who remains? Israel says Hamas is still holding 59 hostages - all but one who were taken during the 7 October 2023 attacks - with 24 believed to still be alive.

Image source, Reuters

Naomi Scherbel-Ball
Reporting from Jerusalem

Families of hostages have been meeting Israeli politicians in the parliament in Jerusalem, while a large crowd protests outside.

Lishi Lavie-Miran - wife of Omri Miran who was taken captive from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on 7 October - angrily told members of the Knesset that if her husband is killed "she would not be responsible for her actions" if one of them "dared to approach her".

Outside, Samuel, an army reservist and history teacher, is among those shouting for the hostages to be brought back immediately.

He says he wants to be an example for his students. "They are 18 years old, they’re going to be serving in the army in the coming months and I believe they shouldn’t be serving in this kind of war," he says.

He adds that he sees this war as political: "It’s not about Israel’s security - Benjamin Netanyahu has his own reasons for this war, and he is corrupt. We need to stop the war and bring back the hostages."

Noga Kaplan, a 22 year-old student at Hebrew University, holds a sign saying "Bibi must go".

She says that re-starting the war is "the worst thing that can happen for the hostages" and calls on the government, Hamas, and the US to continue the ceasefire agreement and the hostages exchange.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC News

Good morning from the White House, where a small trickle of reporters is starting to stream in on a day in which the world's headlines are being dominated by news from Ukraine, and Gaza.

So far, reaction from the US to the resumption of hostilities in Gaza has been relatively muted.

In a brief statement to US media outlets, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said that "Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war".

In a Fox News interview, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed that Israeli officials notified their US counterparts about the operation.

"As President Trump has made it clear - Hamas, the Houthis, Iran and all those who seek to terrorise not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose," she added.

We've not, however, heard directly from President Donald Trump. There is very little on his public schedule today - although he is due to be speaking to Vladimir Putin this afternoon - but at 15:30 EDT (19:30 GMT), he's scheduled to sign executive orders.

While for now the event is closed to the press, we've often seen these events turn into extended question-and-answer sessions in the last few weeks.

We can bring you some more reactions from around the world to Israel's strikes on Gaza.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei says the US has "direct responsibility" for the "continuation of genocide in the occupied Palestinian territories".

Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Tamim Khallaf says Israeli air attacks constitute "a blatant violation" of the ceasefire agreement and represent "a dangerous escalation".

Jordan has been following "Israel's aggressive and barbaric bombing of the Gaza Strip" since last night, the AFP news agency reports, citing government spokesman, Mohammed Momani, who underlines "the need to stop this aggression".

Saudi Arabia condemned Israel's bombing "areas populated by defenceless civilians", without "the slightest regard for international humanitarian law".

The EU's aid commissioner, Hadja Lahbib, calls for an end to renewed violence and a return to a ceasefire, saying civilians in Gaza have "endured unimaginable suffering".

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, led by former national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, will return to Netanyahu’s coalition government, it announced in a joint statement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.

The far-right party announced it would leave Netanyahu's coalition in January in protest at the Gaza ceasefire.

Ben-Gvir wanted a complete military victory over Hamas, and called for a cut-off of humanitarian aid to Gaza until the hostages were released.

Ben-Gvir welcomed Israel's return to "intense fighting", following its strikes on Gaza last night.

"As we said in recent months, when we withdrew: Israel must return to fighting in Gaza: this is the right, moral, ethical and most justified step," he said in a post on X.