Israel's military announced on Wednesday that it had initiated a “limited ground operation” aimed at reclaiming a portion of a vital Gaza corridor.
This escalation appears to intensify Israel's renewed offensive in Gaza, which has broken the ceasefire with Hamas that began in January. As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel had withdrawn from the Netzarim corridor, a former military zone that divided northern Gaza from the south.
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In other developments, a United Nations staff member was killed, and five others were injured in a strike on a U.N. guesthouse in Gaza on Wednesday, as Israel continued its new offensive, breaking the fragile ceasefire with Hamas. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned of intensifying the assault and stated that evacuations from combat zones would soon be ordered. He also issued a stern warning regarding hostages, asserting that if they were not freed, Israel would act with unprecedented force.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the U.N. Office for Project Services (UNOPS), refrained from specifying who was behind the strike in Deir al-Balah, but confirmed that the explosion was intentional and not connected to demining activities. He stated that Israel had been informed of the U.N. facility's location after the first strike and had acknowledged it as a U.N. site. The injured were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
The Israeli military denied earlier claims that it had targeted the U.N. compound, but Moreira da Silva revealed that strikes had hit near the compound on Monday, and directly on Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting in the death of the U.N. staff member. There have been no reports of rocket fire or other militant attacks from Gaza since Israel began its airstrikes early Tuesday, effectively ending the ceasefire with Hamas. The ongoing bombardment has resulted in at least 436 deaths, including 183 children and 94 women, with another 678 people wounded, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The military has stated that it targets only militants, attributing civilian casualties to Hamas, which operates in densely populated areas. In the new offensive, the Israeli military claimed to have struck numerous militants and their sites, including the command center of a Hamas battalion.
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The escalation of violence threatens to return the region to full-scale war after a ceasefire agreement brokered in January had briefly paused the conflict. During this pause, Israel and Hamas had engaged in prisoner exchanges and were poised to negotiate an extension of the truce. However, these talks never materialized, as Hamas demanded Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza and the cessation of the war, while Israel proposed extending the truce and securing the release of more hostages without committing to ending the conflict.