Hamas claims to have fired three missiles at Tel Aviv, the first recorded retaliation from the organization since Israel’s military campaign in Gaza commenced.
According to Israel, one of the missiles was intercepted, while the rest landed into uninhabited territory.
The Gaza health ministry, which is managed by Hamas, reports that since Israel’s resumption of fighting on Tuesday, at least 591 people have been killed, including more than 200 children.
In the Palestinian area, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Thursday that it had begun a ground operation.
Since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas started in January, there had been a break from widespread military action.
Late Thursday, the IDF announced that troops had started “conducting ground activity” in Rafah, which is located in the southern part of the region close to the Egyptian border.
In a statement, it claimed that troops had “dismantled… terrorist infrastructure” and continued ground operations in central and northern Gaza by IDF forces.
Israeli military officials had earlier claimed to have started “targeted ground activities” to establish a “partial buffer between the north and south” of Gaza. “Limited ground operation” is how it described the action.
According to IDF spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee, troops were stationed up to the middle of the Netzarim Corridor, a region that separates northern and southern Gaza.
Hamas “forced this escalation, it rejected every hostage deal, including the offers mediated by the US and others,” according to Israeli government spokesman David Mencer, who also blamed the group for the return of violence.
As negotiations to prolong the truce agreement failed to move forward, Israel began attacks on Tuesday, threatening to escalate them until Hamas freed the remaining hostages.
Israel claims that 24 of the 59 captives that Hamas is still holding are thought to be alive.
In a post on X, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, stated that five of its employees had been killed in the “past few days.”
He went on to say that “the worst is yet to come” in light of the ongoing ground invasion, adding that “they were teachers, doctors, and nurses.”
The UN said on Wednesday that one of its employees had died as a result of damage to its complex in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. Jorge Moreira, the head of the UN Office for Project Services, stated that it was “not an accident” and “at least an incident,” but he added that the facts were yet unknown.
The Israeli strike was cited by Gaza’s health ministry, which also claimed that five other people were hurt. Israel’s military stated it was looking into the event but denied attacking the compound.
The US, a significant supplier of weaponry to Israel, declared its commitment to upholding international law in this area.
US President Donald Trump “fully supports Israel and the IDF in the actions that they have taken in recent days,” according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
On Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy acknowledged that the complex attack had injured a UK national. It follows a charity’s announcement that one of its employees, a 51-year-old British bomb disposal specialist, had suffered injuries.
He informed MPs that “supporting them and their family at this time is our priority.”
After five years of trying, Qasim Abu Sharqiya announced at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, that his two-year-old son, Omar, had been born via in vitro fertilization (IVF).
He told AFP, “They bombed a tent next to us and he died.” “Oh my god, I have no one else, and Omar is my only son.”
At least 76 people “did not even make it into the ER” and were carried “straight to the mortuary,” according to a doctor there named Tanya Haj Hassan, who spoke to the BBC’s Newshour.
“It felt like Armageddon—a level of horror and evil that is really hard to articulate,” she recounted.
In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, thousands of Israelis participated in anti-Netanyahu demonstrations demanding the release of the hostages.
Police in Jerusalem used a water cannon against protesters, and several people were arrested.
