Summary

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Watch: Netanyahu says strikes on Gaza are 'just the beginning'

  1. Palestinians flee as Israel issues evacuation orderspublished at 07:55 Greenwich Mean Time

    As we have been reporting, Israel's military has recently issued fresh evacuation orders for multiple areas in Gaza.

    With strikes continuing, many are fleeing to areas they consider safer. Israel has advised Gazans to head to Khan Younis in the south, or western areas of Gaza City.

    A boy walks, with a bandage around his head, holding two large water cans. Behind him are two women laden with bags and belongings, and more in the background. They walk along a dusty, dirty road, and look unhappyImage source, Getty Images
    A man, boy, young child and two woman sit on the back of a vehicle. The woman holds the child so he is secure. They have bags, and drive amongst rubble and dirt, looking downcastImage source, Getty Images
  2. Explosions every five or six seconds, UN worker in Gaza tells BBCpublished at 07:53 Greenwich Mean Time

    A neighbourhood flattened by strikes. Multiple buildings surround an area of total rubble, which several men stand around in. The buildings that remain standing have walls knocked out of them.Image source, Getty Images

    Rosalia Bollen, UN children's charity Unicef spokesperson, is in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.

    "It was a tough night for everyone," she tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

    She woke up to the sound "of very very loud explosions, our guest house was shaking. For the next 15 minutes... we heard explosions almost every five / six seconds."

    She describes hearing yelling and sirens outside, as the rumbling of planes flew continued overhead.

    "These bombings have been preceded by a total blockage on supplies, humanitarian goods, fuel, cooking gas, and the cutting off of electricity to a Unicef supported water desalination plant," she says.

    "Healthcare has been decimated throughout 15 months of war," Bollen says.

    Children she has spoken to are "deeply scarred and traumatised" from the war, and the strikes need to stop, she says.

  3. 'Enough is enough' - Palestinians mourn after deadly strikespublished at 07:29 Greenwich Mean Time

    "Where is this truce?" Kamal Abu Al-Atta asks, after strikes hit his accommodation in the Shejaiya area, near Gaza City.

    "Look here and see how much killed people we have - we have nearly 100 martyrs here, that's not acceptable, that's not a truce at all, enough is enough," he tells the Reuters news agency.

    Another man, Mohammed Bdeir, says his daughter was killed by the Israeli strikes.

    "We were sleeping, then suddenly woke up on the strike, they hit our neighbours...we found this girl beneath the rubble, we pulled her mother and father from under the rubble."

    They eventually found his daughter's body underneath the rubble, he says.

    A man with curly brown hair sittin down in front of a metal gate. He speaks and looks slightly above the camera. He wears a black vest and has some dust on itImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Mohammed Bdeir says his daughter was killed in the strikes

  4. 'This is unconscionable' - UN humanitarian coordinatorpublished at 07:26 Greenwich Mean Time

    We've just had a statement from the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Muhannad Hadi, in response to the airstrikes across Gaza.

    "This is unconscionable. A ceasefire must be reinstated immediately," Hadi says.

    "People in Gaza have endured unimaginable suffering."

    A destroyed building in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, this morningImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    A destroyed building in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, this morning

  5. Israel issues new evacuation orders in Gazapublished at 07:15 Greenwich Mean Time

    Our Gaza correspondent recently reported that strikes are ongoing in Gaza this morning - and the Israel Defence Forces have just issued new evacuation orders, suggesting strikes will continue further.

    The entire border of the Gaza Strip is now a red, dangerous zone, and people are being told to leave the areas of Beit Hanoun, Khuza'a, and Abasan al-Kabira and al-Jadida.

    They should move to shelters in western Gaza City and Khan Younis "immediately", an IDF spokesperson says on X.

    The warning issued by the IDF online - map showing red border areas in Gaza and arrows suggesting where people should goImage source, IDF
    Image caption,

    The warning issued by the IDF online

  6. 'Every day we don’t have the war, Hamas prepares to attack us'published at 07:08 Greenwich Mean Time

    Jon Donnison
    Reporting from Sderot, northern Israel

    In the Israeli town of Sderot, looking out over northern Gaza in the early morning sunshine, the sound of explosions rumble in the distance.

    There are also bursts of heavy machine gun fire and fighter jets in the sky. Israelis living close to the border woke to the news that the war could be back on.

    "I am happy," 38-year old-Inbal, who works in a nearby restaurant, tells me. "Every day we don’t have the war, Hamas is preparing to attack us again."

    She says she used to have many Palestinian friends, including from Gaza. "Not any more," she says, "they betrayed us."

    She is one of many Israelis who would welcome a return to war.

  7. What happened in Gaza overnight?published at 07:02 Greenwich Mean Time

    A house hit by overnight strikes in Khan Younis, southern GazaImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    A house hit by overnight strikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza

    It has just turned 07:00 in London and 09:00 in Gaza. If you're just joining us, here's a timeline of what happened overnight:

    • At just after 02:15 local time (00:15 GMT), the BBC reported Israeli warplanes had launched dozens of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip
    • The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency announced just before 02:30 local time that they were "conducting extensive strikes" on Hamas "terror targets" in Gaza
    • About 15 minutes later, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said Israel had carried out at least 35 airstrikes, and that at least 15 people had been killed and dozens injured
    • Around 03:00 local time (01:00 GMT), the Israeli prime minister's office said the IDF had been instructed to take "strong action" against Hamas, following the group's "refusal to release our hostages" and its rejection of proposals received from the US "and from the mediators". "Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," it said
    • At 03:20 (01:20 GMT), Hamas released a statement describing the attacks as "treacherous" and saying the Israeli government had decided to overturn the ceasefire - "exposing the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate"
    • Around 20 minutes later, an Israeli official said the IDF was striking dozens of targets "based on Hamas readiness to execute terror attacks, build up force and re-arm"
    • Just before 04:00 (02:00 GMT), reports emerged that the highest-ranking Hamas security official in the territory, Mahmoud Abu Watfa, had been killed
    • Around 08:00 local time, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said the death toll from the Israeli strike overnight had risen to "at least 330"

  8. Israel will keep fighting until hostages are returned - defence ministerpublished at 06:58 Greenwich Mean Time

    Israeli Defence Minister Israel KatzImage source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

    Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz says they will keep fighting in Gaza for "as long as the hostages are not returned and all our war aims are not achieved".

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said the main aim of the war in Gaza was to "destroy" Hamas's military strength, as well as getting the hostages back.

  9. Pictures show extent of destruction across Gazapublished at 06:47 Greenwich Mean Time

    We are starting to see pictures of the destruction caused by overnight strikes on Gaza, as the number killed passes 300:

    A scene of total rubble, assuming a building had been there before as you can see pillars. A  half ruined building with no walls is in the background. A man walks on steps which have no purpose now and lie on top of the messImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    The Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip was hit

    In the dark, a car sits completely destroyed. It is grey and covered in dust. There is rubbly around the car and a destroyed wall behind itImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Al-Tabeen School in Gaza City, in the north

    A woman in a long grey burqa looks through rubble of a building.Image source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    A former school, turned into a camp, in Gaza City

  10. Israel told US in advance about strikespublished at 06:31 Greenwich Mean Time

    The Israeli government gave the White House notice before launching the strikes, an Israeli official tells the BBC’s US partner CBS.

  11. Israeli air strikes slow down, but continue to hit Gazapublished at 06:30 Greenwich Mean Time

    Rushdi Abualouf
    Gaza correspondent, reporting from Cairo

    The latest figure from the Hamas-run health ministry says more than 300 people have been killed in these strikes.

    Officials have been trying to collect information from five hospitals around the Gaza Strip.

    More than 50 children and 28 women are among those killed in the strikes that targeted several areas across the region.

    The last hour or so has seen relative calm in Gaza, but in hospitals doctors say they have received more than 250 people injured.

    Some are in a very critical condition, and they are trying to cope with a lack of facilities and medical equipment.

    The intensity of the air strikes are less now than when they started around 02:00 local time, but are still going on.

    Most of the people at this time were up to prepare the pre-dawn Ramadan meal, so they would have been awake at the time of the attacks.

    Since the ceasefire, people were living in tents but at least they weren't living in fear, up until the shocking news last night.

  12. Number killed rises to at least 330, says Hamas-run health ministrypublished at 06:25 Greenwich Mean Time
    Breaking

    The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says the death toll from the Israeli strike overnight has risen to "at least 330".

    The AFP news agency quotes the head of the ministry, Mohammed Zaqut, who says most of the dead are women and children.

    He adds hundreds more are wounded, "dozens of them in critical condition".

  13. Two months of relative calm has endedpublished at 06:18 Greenwich Mean Time

    Yolande Knell
    Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

    Two months of relative calm in Gaza rapidly ended overnight.

    Israel said it was hitting dozens of Hamas targets with officials suggesting that the operation was open-ended and expected to expand.

    “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” the prime minister’s office said.

    Senior Hamas security and political figures are reportedly among the dead – but doctors say many children were also killed in the air strikes.

    Hamas warned that what it called Israel’s “unprovoked escalation” had unilaterally breached the ceasefire and put the fate of hostages in jeopardy.

    With the backing of the US, Israel has been pushing for the return of hostages in exchange for a longer-term truce and allowing aid back into Gaza.

    Hamas has insisted on talks about a permanent end to the war and full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza in line with the terms of the original ceasefire deal.

    The White House said it was consulted by Israel about these latest attacks and that instead of a new agreement, Hamas had chosen "refusal and war".

  14. 'They unleashed the fire of hell again on Gaza'published at 05:42 Greenwich Mean Time

    A man walks through the rubble of a destroyed section of a school-turned-camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City on 18 March 2025Image source, Getty Images

    We're now starting to hear accounts from Gaza, where at least 220 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Israeli strikes.

    Mohammed Jarghoun, 36, was sleeping in a tent near his destroyed house in Khan Younis when he was woken by huge blasts.

    "I thought they were dreams and nightmares, but I saw a fire in my relatives' house. More than 20 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women," he told the AFP news agency.

    Ramez Alammarin, 25, described carrying children to hospital southeast of Gaza City.

    "They unleashed the fire of hell again on Gaza," he said of Israel, adding that "bodies and limbs are on the ground, and the wounded cannot find any doctor to treat them".

    "They bombed a building in the area and there are still martyrs and wounded under the rubble... fear and terror," he told AFP.

    "Death is better than life."

  15. Senior Hamas official reportedly killedpublished at 05:22 Greenwich Mean Time

    Mahmoud Abu Watfa, the deputy interior minister in Gaza and the highest-ranking Hamas security official in the territory, has reportedly been killed in a strike.

    He can be seen below, the man with grey hair on the centre right, alongside Hamas security chief Tawfiq Abu Naim in 2020.

    Tawfiq Abu Naeem, head of Hamas-run security forces, and his deputy Mahmoud Abu Watfa arrive to attend a training session by police recruits in Gaza City in January 2020.Image source, Reuters
  16. A quiet night that turned deadlypublished at 04:59 Greenwich Mean Time

    Rushdi Abualouf
    Gaza correspondent, reporting from Cairo

    It started as a normal night in Gaza, with many people having their pre-dawn meal due to it being the holy month of Ramadan.

    Then explosions started.

    They were first heard in northwest Gaza. Witnesses say artillery fire came first, then more than 20 Israeli war planes flew over Gaza. They very quickly began to hit targets in Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Younis.

    This is the biggest wave of airstrikes since 19 January, when the ceasefire came into effect.

    Two days ago, talks in Doha which lasted for 72 hours and involved high level officials from Egypt, Qatar and the US failed to extend the first stage of the ceasefire, or move into the second phase.

    Everyone was then expecting an escalation.

    I was talking to a senior Hamas official last night, who said they had declared a state of emergency in Gaza. Hamas was expecting some type of Israeli air strike.

    But for the people in Gaza, it was a surprise.

  17. What have Israel and Hamas said?published at 04:46 Greenwich Mean Time

    Benjamin Netanyahu in 2023Image source, Getty Images

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was targeting what it called "terror targets" belonging to Hamas.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the strikes on Tuesday morning, according to a statement from the PM's office.

    "This follows Hamas's repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators," it said.

    "Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," it added.

    The plan for the strikes "was presented by the IDF over the weekend and approved by the political leadership", it said.

    Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, warned Hamas to release all the hostages, stating "we will show no mercy on our enemies".

    Hamas has responded furiously, accusing Israel of treachery for overturning the ceasefire agreement. It also says Israel is exposing the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza to "an unknown fate".

    But Hamas has not yet declared that it is resuming the war, instead calling on mediators and the United Nations to intervene.

  18. At least 220 reportedly killed in Israeli attack, says Gaza health ministrypublished at 04:42 Greenwich Mean Time

    Mourners gather near the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at a hospital in Gaza City.Image source, Reuters

    The Israeli military says it has carried out "extensive strikes" in the Gaza Strip overnight.

    At least 220 people have been killed, the Hamas-run health ministry has said.

    One of those reportedly killed was Mahmoud Abu Watfa, the highest-ranking Hamas security official in Gaza. But many civilians, including children, have also been caught up in the attack.

    This is the largest wave of airstrikes in Gaza since the ceasefire began on 19 January. Talks to extend the Gaza ceasefire have failed to reach an agreement.

    Stay with us while we keep you updated.