The Gaza Health Ministry has revised its death toll from Israeli strikes on Tuesday, saying a total of 404 people were killed. It had earlier reported 413 dead.
It also revised the number of wounded to 562 from 660. It did not provide an explanation.
Medics say the situation inside Gaza hospitals has been chaotic since the strikes began hours before dawn, and that many people are still buried under the rubble.
A doctor working at a Gaza hospital said she had witnessed “a level of horror” that was hard to articulate after Israel’s surprise bombardment of the territory.
Dr. Tanya Haj Hassan, a volunteer with Medical Aid for Palestinians based at Nasser Hospital, said the pediatric intensive care unit was full. She said she had personally treated at least five patients who died in the emergency room.
“The ER was just chaos, patients everywhere, on the floor,” she said. “There were probably three men, and the rest were all children, women, elderly, everybody caught in their sleep, still wrapped in blankets. Terrifying.”
Israeli strikes in Gaza
Palestinians at a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City say they were shaken violently from their sleep early Tuesday when Israeli jets struck. Hospital officials said more than two dozen people were killed.
“People are sleeping peacefully, they set the alarm to wake up for suhoor, and they wake up to death,” said Fedaa Heriz, a displaced woman, referring to the early morning meal during the fasting month of Ramadan.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the school strike, which was part of a renewed offensive in Gaza.
“I heard screaming, my mother and sister screaming, calling for help. I came and entered the room and found the children under the rubble, under the stones,” said Majd Naser, a displaced Palestinian.
The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said at least four senior officials, including two top police officers, in the Hamas administration have been killed in Israeli strikes.
They include Issam al-Daalis, head of the government administrative committee, Maj. Gen. Mohamed Abu Watfa, undersecretary of the Interior Ministry, Maj. Gen. Bahgat Abu Sultan, director of the domestic security agency and Ahmed al-Hetta, undersecretary of the Justice Ministry.
Egypt, a key mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks, lashed out at Israel, calling its new offensive on Gaza a “flagrant violation of the ceasefire deal.”
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it rejects “all Israeli attacks which aim to … make ongoing efforts to de-escalate and regain stability fail.”
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
It called for the international community to “to immediately intervene to stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.”
It also urged the parties to “exercise restraint” and give mediators a space to “complete their efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire.”
The U.N. human rights chief says he’s “horrified” by Israel airstrikes in Gaza overnight that have killed hundreds, according to health authorities in the territory.
Volker Türk says the last 18 months of fighting between Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, and Israeli forces have shown that “the only way forward is a political settlement” and a “military path” offers no way out of the crisis.
The rights chief reiterated his calls for hostages held by Hamas and people held arbitrarily to be released “immediately and unconditionally.”
“This nightmare must end immediately,” he added in a statement.
The families of hostages held by Hamas are calling on supporters to protest with them outside Israel’s parliament, saying the resumption of fighting in Gaza puts their loved ones at risk.
“With each passing day, the danger to the hostages grows. Military pressure could further endanger their lives,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing the families, said in a statement announcing the protest.
An Israeli official says Netanyahu is to meet with top security officials in the coming half-hour to discuss next steps in the war.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting.
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says he is “shocked” by the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and has called for the ceasefire in Gaza to be respected.
Guterres, in a statement, called for humanitarian aid to resume for people in Gaza and for the hostages held by Hamas to be released unconditionally.
Freed British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari says her “heart is broken, crushed and disappointed” by the resumption of fighting in Gaza.
In a story on Instagram shared by Israeli media, she said she would keep fighting for the remaining hostages.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli strikes across the territory have killed at least 326 people.
The body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli army airstrikes is brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The wave of strikes that began early Tuesday is among the deadliest since the start of the 17-month war.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for the ceasefire to be maintained following Israel’s attack on Gaza.
“There’s already been enormous suffering there, which is why we’re calling upon all parties to respect the ceasefire and hostage deal that was put in place,” Albanese told reporters.
“We’ll continue to make representations. Australia will continue to stand up for peace and security in the region,” he added.
An Israeli airstrike flattened a prison run by the Hamas-led government in Gaza Strip, killing dozens of prisoners and policemen, according to hospital records.
The prison was located in the urban Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Associated Press footage showed a collapsed building and people trying to reach bodies buried under the rubble.
The bodies of more than three dozen prisoners and guards were taken to the nearby Shifa hospital.
The Hamas-run government operates a police force that numbered in the tens of thousands before the war and quickly returned to the streets after a ceasefire took hold in January.
The Israeli military has ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza and move toward the center after carrying out a wave of airstrikes across the territory.
The orders issued Tuesday indicate Israel could launch renewed ground operations.
The Hamas-run Education Ministry in the Gaza Strip says classes have been suspended in dozens of schools that had recently reopened.
The decision came after Israel launched a wave of heavy airstrikes across Gaza early Tuesday, shattering a nearly two-month ceasefire.
Schools shut down across Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war, and most were converted to shelters for displaced people.
The ministry said it had resumed classes in around 70 schools in recent weeks.
A group representing the families of hostages held in Gaza has slammed the decision to return to fighting, saying the move shows the government “chose to give up on the hostages.”
The Hostages Families Forum said “military pressure endangers hostages.”
It asked the government in a post on X why it “backed out of the agreement” with Hamas that set out a release of all the living hostages in exchange for an end to the war.
“We are shocked, angry, and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas,” the group said.
A United Nations staffer in the Gaza Strip described a “very tough night” as Israel resumed heavy strikes across the territory after a nearly two-month ceasefire.
Rosalia Bollen, a communications specialist with the U.N. children’s agency, said she woke up around 2 a.m. to “very loud explosions.”
She said the UNICEF bass near the southern city of Rafah “was shaking very heavily.”
When the strikes subsided, she heard “people yelling, people screaming and ambulances.”
“The bombardments have continued throughout the night,” though at a lower intensity than the initial barrage, she said. “The whole night, there’s been just the constant buzzing of drones and planes flying over.”
She said the strikes hit tents and structures housing displaced families. “We’re seeing, as of this morning, at least several dozen children killed,” she said.
A key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the return to fighting in Gaza.
Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to leave the government if fighting did not resume, what would imperil Netanyahu’s rule.
Critics said those political considerations were influencing Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making.
“We remained in the government for this moment despite our opposition to the (ceasefire) deal, and we are more determined than ever to complete the task and destroy Hamas,” Smotrich posted on X.
Ronen Neutra, the father of Omer Neutra, a soldier whose body is being held in Gaza, said he and other hostage families were concerned about the return to fighting.
“We hoped to see hostages beginning to leave (Gaza),” he told Israeli Army Radio.
“The return to war serves the government and Hamas and the victims will be hostages who are alive and face a threat to their lives,” he added.
Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, saying it was striking dozens of Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January. Palestinian officials reported at least 235 deaths.
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 235 people, according to local hospitals.
The toll from the strikes overnight and into Tuesday is based on records from seven hospitals and does not include bodies brought to other, smaller health centers.
Rescuers are still searching for dead and wounded.
Injured Palestinians wait for treatment at the hospital following Israeli army airstrikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)
A senior Hamas official says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to launch widespread strikes on the Gaza Strip amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages held there.
In a statement early Tuesday, Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, accused Netanyahu of resuming the war to try and save his far-right governing coalition.
“Netanyahu’s decision to return to war is a decision to sacrifice the (Israeli) occupation’s captives and a death sentence against them,” he said.
He said Israel didn’t respect its commitments in the ceasefire deal reached in January and urged mediators to “reveal facts” on which side broke the agreement.
Israel unleashed a new wave of strikes on Gaza, ending a break in fighting during which 33 Israeli hostages were returned in return for the release of nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire. Defense Minister Israel Katz said fighting would continue until all hostages were released.
A total of 59 hostages are still being held by Hamas. Of those, Israel believes 35 are dead.
▶ Read more about how many hostages are left in Gaza.
Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, striking dozens of Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January. Palestinian officials reported at least 69 deaths. (Production: Wafaa Shurafaa)
Gaza’s Health Ministry says a wave of Israeli strikes across the territory has killed at least 200 people.
A man mourns as he places the body of a child in the hospital morgue following Israeli army airstrikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)
Injured Palestinians wait for treatment at the hospital following Israeli army airstrikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)
Khalil Degran, a spokesman for the ministry based at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, provided the updated figure early Tuesday.
The Israeli ambassador to the UN said the Security Council had to ensure that the hostages were brought back to Israel if it wants to stop the war in Gaza
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said “Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war.”
The death toll from new Israeli airstrikes in Gaza has risen to 69, according to hospitals receiving bodies.
A dead person killed during an Israeli army strike is taken into the hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/ Mohammad Jahjouh)
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says 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 lose,” Leavitt continued, speaking to Fox News on Monday evening.
Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First- and Fifth-Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
In a statement, Hamas condemned what it called Israel’s “unprovoked escalation” and said it had put the fate of the hostages in jeopardy.
Israeli officials said the latest operation was open-ended and was expected to expand.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
