Over 400 killed in Gaza as Israel breaks ceasefire, Ben-Gvir returns to cabinet

In a significant escalation, Israel launched intensive airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.

The Gaza-based Health Ministry said at least 404 people have been killed and more than 500 others injured since early Tuesday, prompting a wave of condemnations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the renewed military operation came after Hamas refused to release the remaining hostages.

Hamas accused Israel of violating the January ceasefire and warned in a statement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to “resume war” could be a "death sentence" for hostages still alive in Gaza.

The Palestinian militant group is believed to still hold 59 of around 250 hostages it captured during its cross-border assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States brokered a ceasefire that began on Jan. 19, ending the devastating war between Israel and Hamas. But after the first phase of the ceasefire was completed by early March, the conflicting parties have failed to agree on the next steps.

Ben-Gvir back in government

Following Netanyahu’s decision to resume fighting in Gaza, the far-right Jewish Power party announced Tuesday it was rejoining the government.

On Tuesday morning, party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir stated that ending the ceasefire in Gaza "is the most right, moral and justified move, so that the terror group Hamas could be eliminated and our hostages brought back." He is expected to regain his previous role as minister of national security.

Jewish Power, which has consistently advocated for continuing the Gaza war until Hamas is fully defeated, had left the cabinet on Jan. 19 after Israel reached a ceasefire deal with the group.

Meanwhile, Israel continues its aerial bombardments across Gaza. The Israeli military said Tuesday at noon that its jets were targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad positions in the Strip.

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting at the Tel Aviv Defense Ministry headquarters with Defense Minister Israel Katz and security agency heads. Israel’s security cabinet is scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss the latest developments in Gaza. In response to security concerns, authorities have ordered all schools in towns and villages near the Gaza border to remain closed for the day. Public broadcaster Kan reported that the military is preparing for potential rocket and missile fire from Gaza and Yemen.

In parallel, hundreds of Israelis gathered outside the Knesset on Tuesday, calling for an end to the fighting and the resumption of negotiations for the release of hostages.

White House consulted

In an interview late Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News, "The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight."

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

Reactions and condemnations

• Saudi Arabia: The Saudi Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing the kingdom’s condemnation “in the strongest terms” of Israel’s “resumption of the aggression against the Gaza Strip and its direct bombardment of areas populated by defenseless civilians, without the slightest regard for international humanitarian law.”

The statement emphasized “the need to immediately stop the Israeli killing, violence and destruction, and to protect Palestinian civilians from the unjust Israeli war machine.”

• Palestinian presidency: The Palestinian presidency condemned the resumption of Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and urged the international community to pressure Israel into stopping its attacks against Palestinians in the enclave and the West Bank.

“Israel committed a massacre against our people, killing and wounding more than 1,000,” spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement. “These massacres demonstrate Israel’s disregard for the efforts the international community is deploying to uphold the truce and achieve long-lasting peace, security and stability in the region.”

• Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and Turkey: Egypt, one of the main brokers of the ceasefire, strongly condemned the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, describing them as “a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement and a dangerous escalation that threatens to have severe consequences for the stability of the region.”

“Egypt reiterates its complete rejection of all Israeli assaults aimed at reigniting tension in the region and thwarting efforts to achieve calm and stability,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement called on the international community to act immediately to halt the Israeli war on Gaza and prevent another cycle of violence in the region, urging the concerned parties to “exercise restraint and allow mediators to complete their efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire.”

In a similar statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry denounced the Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip as blatant disregard for international efforts to restore peace.

The ministry warned in a statement, “The occupation's escalating policies will ultimately ignite the region and undermine its security and stability,” and pressed the concerned parties to resume dialogue in order to uphold the ceasefire.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel’s resumption of strikes in Gaza was “unacceptable,” stressing the importance of reestablishing a ceasefire as soon as possible.

The comments came during a phone call between Erdogan and Finnish President Alexander Stubb early Tuesday. “The international community must finally say 'stop' to Netanyahu’s genocidal policy,” Erdogan told Stubb, according to the Turkish readout of the call.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it was “unacceptable” for Israel to cause a “new cycle of violence” in the region, warning in a statement that the Israeli government’s “hostile approach” threatened the future of the Middle East.

Jordan joined the chorus in condemning the renewed strikes in the Palestinian enclave and cautioned that “continued aggression could further destabilize the region.”

“The international community must assume its legal and moral obligations by pressuring Israel to halt its military operations, fully implement the ceasefire, restore electricity to Gaza and reopen border crossings for the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid to the Strip,” the kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

• Iran: Iran, one of the main backers of Hamas in the region, accused Israel of continuing to commit “genocide and ethnic cleansing” against the people of the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei accused the United States of greenlighting the new round of Israeli strikes in Gaza and called on the international community to take “immediate steps” to halt the war and Israel’s violations of international law.

• Russia: Russia’s Foreign Ministry expressed in a statement its “deep regret” over Israel's latest attacks on Gaza and said it condemned “any action that leads to the death of civilians.”

The Kremlin, meanwhile, warned of “another spiral of escalation.”

“Especially concerning, of course, are the reports of major casualties among the civilian population,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday.

“We are monitoring the situation very closely and, of course, we are waiting for it to return to a peaceful course,” he added.

• China: China said it was “highly concerned about the current situation between Israel and Palestine” and expressed hope for the reimplementation of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

“We hope that all parties can earnestly promote the continuous and effective implementation of the ceasefire agreement, avoid taking any actions that may lead to escalation of the situation and prevent a larger-scale humanitarian disaster,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.