Israel has warned that it will ‘show no mercy’ on Hamas if the Israeli hostages are not returned as it unleashes a series of air strikes on Gaza.

According to Hamas, over 330 Palestinians have died following extensive air strikes by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza. The strikes were carried out after attempts to prolong the ceasefire fell through.

Hamas sources have reported that Mahmoud Abu Wafah, a top Hamas security official in Gaza, was also killed in the attack.

Witnesses from Gaza have described the Israeli assault as horrific, saying that the area has turned into a scene of chaos with bodies and injured individuals scattered around, and a severe lack of medical help for the wounded.

The Israeli military, which reported it hit dozens of ‘terror targets’ early on Tuesday, said the attacks would continue for as long as necessary.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says the fighting will continue ‘as long as the hostages are not returned and all our war aims are not achieved’.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has previously vowed to ‘destroy’ Hamas, said Tuesday that Israel will ‘from now on act against Hamas with increasing military strength’.

His office also accused Hamas of ‘repeated refusal to release our hostages’ and rejecting proposals from US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

Hamas has issued a statement accusing Israel of treachery for breaching the terms of the truce agreed on January 19 and warned Netanyahu’s decision to launch widespread strikes on the Gaza Strip amounts to a ‘death sentence’ for the remaining hostages held there.

This picture was shared in the aftermath of the extensive Israeli air strikes on Gaza

Residents look at the remains of their homes, destroyed in an Israeli strike, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025

In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets could be seen stacked up as casualties were brought in

Strikes were reported in multiple locations overnight, including northern Gaza, Gaza City and the Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah in central and southern Gaza Strip. Officials with the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry said many of the dead were children.

In hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets could be seen stacked up as casualties were brought in.

Others were seen rushing stretchers with wounded people, including young children, to the Nasser Hospital. 

Footage shared on social media in the aftermath of the strikes shows pummels of smoke billowing from a fiery orange pit as people’s homes lie in ruins.

Netanyahu and Katz ordered the strikes on Tuesday morning, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. The proposal for the air strikes ‘was presented by the IDF over the weekend and approved by the political leadership’.

‘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,’ a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

‘Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.’

In Washington, a White House spokesman said Israel had consulted the US administration before it carried out the strikes, which the military claimed targeted mid-level Hamas commanders and leadership officials.

‘Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war,’ White House spokesman Brian Hughes said.

In Gaza, witnesses contacted said Israeli tanks shelled areas in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, forcing many families who had returned to their areas after the ceasefire began to leave their homes and head north to Khan Younis.

Negotiating teams from Israel and Hamas had been in Doha as mediators from Egypt and Qatar sought to bridge the gap between the two sides after the end of an initial phase in the ceasefire, which saw 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais returned in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

With the backing of the United States, Israel had been pressing for the return of the remaining 59 hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for a longer-term truce that would have halted fighting until after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover holiday in April.

However Hamas had been insisting on moving to negotiations for a permanent end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, in accordance with the terms of the original ceasefire agreement.

‘We demand that the mediators hold Netanyahu and the Zionist occupation fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement,’ the group said.

Israel announced on March 2 it would be suspending the entry of all goods and supplies into Gaza over a dispute around the timing of the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

The picture was shared on social media following the impact of Israel’s renewed air strikes in Gaza

Each side has accused the other of failing to respect the terms of the January ceasefire agreement, and there were multiple hiccups during the course of the first phase. But until now, a full return to the fighting had been avoided. 

Israel had blocked deliveries of aid from entering Gaza and had threatened on numerous occasions to resume fighting if Hamas did not agree to return the hostages it still holds.

The army did not provide details about the strikes carried out in the early hours of Tuesday but Palestinian health authorities and witnesses reported damage in numerous areas of Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are living in makeshift shelters or damaged buildings.

A building in Gaza City, in the northern end of the strip was hit and at least three houses were hit in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. In addition, the strikes hit targets in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, according to medics and witnesses.

Among those killed was senior Hamas official Mohammad Al-Jmasi, a member of the political office, and members of his family, including his grandchildren who were in his house in Gaza City when it was hit by an airstrike, Hamas sources and relatives said. In all, at least five senior Hamas officials were killed along with members of their families.

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 18, 2025

A woman searches through the rubble of her home, destroyed in an Israeli strike, for salvageable items at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 18, 2025

Men transport items they salvaged from the rubble of their homes, destroyed in an Israeli strike, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip

A man carries items he salvaged from the rubble of his home, destroyed in an Israeli strike, as he walks through the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip

Much of Gaza now lies in ruins after 15 months of fighting, which erupted on October 7, 2023 when thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and abducting 251 hostages into Gaza over the continued occupation of Palestinian land.

The Israeli campaign in response has killed more than 48,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and destroyed much of the housing and infrastructure in the enclave, including the hospital system.

This is a breaking news story. More to come