At least ten Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Wednesday, according to local health officials, as Israel renewed its bombardment and issued fresh orders for residents in combat zones to evacuate.
The airstrike targeted a United Nations facility in central Gaza City, killing one foreign national and wounding four others.
The deaths were confirmed by Gaza’s health ministry. The Israeli military denied attacking the United Nations.
compound in Deir al-Balah, saying the attack struck a Hamas location in northern Gaza where it was found that preparations were being made to fire into Israel.
One of the worst single days since the start of the conflict, Palestinian health officials recorded over 400 deaths from Israeli strikes.
After a ceasefire in January that Israel warned was just the start of its offensive, there was a brief period of relative calm before this spike in violence.
The breakup of the truce, which had given Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants a temporary reprieve after 17 months of destruction, has sparked accusations between Israel and Hamas.
While Hamas disputes these claims and accuses Israel of indiscriminate bombing campaigns, Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
The Israeli military distributed leaflets in northern and southern Gaza on Wednesday, warning citizens to leave their homes because of the impending danger in areas that were deemed “combat zones.”
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas rejected plans to extend the ceasefire until April, which prompted the strikes.
Israel has been accused by Hamas, which still holds 59 of the 250 hostages taken in the October 7, 2023 attack, of undermining efforts to reach a lasting peace agreement.
In the meantime, King Abdullah of Jordan, speaking with French President Emmanuel Macron, called for a return to ceasefire and humanitarian aid access, calling Israel’s renewed attacks a dangerous escalation that would worsen the humanitarian crisis.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also denounced the situation as “unacceptable.”
