Contractors withdrawing from the Netzarim Corridor: Report

Haaretz is reporting that private security contractors stationed in the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza are withdrawing from their posts following Israel’s wave of predawn attacks on the Palestinian territory.

The Netzarim Corridor was developed by Israeli forces as a security belt dissecting north and south Gaza, but the checkpoint was most recently staffed by Egyptian security contractors deployed by a US private security firm amid the ceasefire agreed upon between Hamas and Israel.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to Gaza through the Netzarim Corridor, where the private security contractors were employed to scan vehicles for weapons and explosives.

Israel’s attack on Gaza hits after 16 days of Israeli military blockade

The renewed war on Gaza comes amid a worsening humanitarian crisis that has persisted for 16 days since March 12.

This follows Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to block the entry of all aid and goods and shut down the Strip’s border crossings at the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

Residents are enduring increasingly dire conditions as essential supplies – including food, cooking gas, and fuel – dwindle. Meanwhile, the water crisis has worsened, with desalination plants shutting down due to the ongoing fuel shortage.

The Government Media Office in Gaza warned that the renewed escalation will further deepen the already critical humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory.


_{Injured Palestinians wait for treatment at the hospital following Israeli air strikes on Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, early on Tuesday}

Hamas calls for global protest against Israel

The Palestinian group has called on people of Arab and Islamic nations, and the “free people of the world”, to take to the streets in protest over Israel’s devastating attack on Gaza, which has killed more than 200 people.

Hamas called on people across the world to “raise their voice in rejection of the resumption of the Zionist war of extermination against our people in the Gaza Strip”.

Israeli official claims attacks on Gaza ‘preemptive’, provides no evidence: Report

An unnamed Israeli official has told US broadcaster CNN that the renewed attack on Gaza was a “preemptive” strike targeting Hamas’s “readiness to execute terror attacks, build up force and re-arm”.

The air strikes targeted “mid-ranking military commanders, leadership officials and terrorist infrastructure”, according to the official.

Israel’s assault will continue “as long as necessary and will expand beyond air strikes,” the official said, declining to provide any evidence regarding the claims made against Hamas.

“We cannot elaborate further, so as not to hand out information to the enemy,” they said.


_{An injured Palestinian girl is treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Tuesday morning following the Israeli attack}

Pregnant woman killed in Israeli attack on home in central Gaza

Al Jazeera’s Maram Humaid, reporting from Gaza, said that among the more than 230 people killed in the early hours of this morning were a pregnant woman and her baby.

They were killed when Israel struck their home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, Humaid reports.


_{Bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes brought to Gaza City hospitals}

Trump administration is undermining regional peace efforts: Analyst

Political analyst Xavier Abu Eid has told Al Jazeera that Egypt and Qatar will need to send a “very strong message” to the Trump administration, in their roles as Gaza truce mediators.

He says that Arab countries have come out with a “very strong, unified voice” by backing Egypt’s plan for reconstructing Gaza, an effort at regional security that the Trump administration is now “sabotaging”.

“The Arab world, we have to say it, is an ally of the United States. There is no member of the Arab League that wants to oppose the role of the United States in the world,” he said.

“But the messages that are being sent by the Trump administration are not those that someone who is a partner for regional stability and peace would be sending.”

Israel’s Smotrich, Ben-Gvir hail heavy bombardment of Gaza

Israeli politicians have cheered on the renewed attacks on Gaza, which have so far killed hundreds of people, including many children.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the return “to intensive attacks” on Gaza is a gradual process that had been planned since the new Israeli army chief of staff took office earlier this month.

He added the return to fighting will be “completely different” from before.

Meanwhile, far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned from his post as national security minister over the ceasefire deal, argued that returning to fighting is a “correct and justified step”.

US official says Hamas ‘chose war’, timeline tells a different story

The US has laid the blame for Israel’s surprise attacks on Gaza, which have killed more than 300 people, on Hamas.

White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told The Times of Israel that “Hamas could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire, but instead chose refusal and war”.

Hamas, however, complied with all terms of phase one of the ceasefire agreement that was signed with Israel on January 17, with Egypt and Qatar as mediators, and the US as guarantor.

In fact, it has been Israel, backed by the Trump administration, that has refused to move to phase two of the agreement.

When the US proposed, through hostage envoy Adam Boehler, that Hamas release an Israeli-American prisoner and the bodies of four captives, Hamas agreed on the grounds that phase two of the ceasefire be implemented. Israel rejected the proposal.

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff then presented an initiative where Hamas would release half of the living and the remains of half of the captives that have died in exchange for 50 days of ceasefire extension. The US refused to include moving to the second phase of the ceasefire in that proposal.


Netanyahu’s testimony in corruption trial postponed due to fighting in Gaza: Report

Israel’s Maariv newspaper is reporting that the prosecution has agreed to a request to cancel the Israeli prime minister’s testimony in a corruption trial against him, due to “security developments”.

According to Maariv, Netanyahu had asked for his testimony on Tuesday to be cancelled, hours after the Israeli prime minister oversaw renewed attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu, who is facing allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, had appeared before the court on Monday in one of three long-delayed cases that he has described as a political “witch-hunt”.

Few Israelis ‘are buying’ Netanyahu’s reasons for attacking Gaza

Israeli political analyst Ori Goldberg said the mood has changed and few in Israel believe Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claim that the resumption of attacks on Gaza will help free the captives.

“The situation has changed,” Goldberg told Al Jazeera.

Investigations into Netanyahu’s behaviour and those of senior staff in the prime minister’s office have been opened by the national police and Shin Bet security service, he said. Protests have also been rekindled against the backdrop of these new investigations and due to the testimonies of returned captives that “Israeli hostages are truly physically languishing” in Gaza.

“ …Which means that very few Israelis are buying Netanyahu’s claims that these renewed bombings are applying pressure that will ultimately achieve the war’s goal and bring about the release of the hostages,” Goldberg said.

If protests are held later today and tomorrow, as scheduled, Goldberg said, Netanyahu and his new appointee to the head of the military, Eyal Zamir, will not have emerged from this latest attack on Gaza “triumphant”.

_{Relatives mourn near the bodies of victims killed in an Israeli strike at al-Mamdani Hospital in Gaza City on March 18}

‘Surprise and shock’ in Gaza after heavy Israeli attacks

The Israeli attacks came as a surprise and shock for people in the Gaza Strip. Most of the people were actually sleeping and woke to the sound of the massive bombardment.

This ceasefire was very fragile, with at least 150 Palestinians killed during the past two months. But still, Palestinians were not expecting this.

It’s Ramadan, and everyone’s fasting. The expectation here was people would at least spend the last days of Ramadan without any air strikes.

There are a lot of people missing and trapped under the rubble. Meanwhile, we have received information that Israeli authorities restricted all the medical evacuations of Palestinians that used to happen every day through the Rafah crossing.

Palestinians are desperate, and parents are scared.

Trump far more ‘permissive’ of Israel’s attacks in Gaza than Biden was

The Trump administration has been much more permissive in its messaging to Israeli leaders than the Biden administration was.

Both said they were ironclad in their support for Israel, but Biden pushed – publicly and behind the scenes – for Netanyahu to be more strategic, to try to minimise civilian casualties in Gaza.

And we saw some impact of that, at least on the surface. We saw Israel dropping leaflets trying to warn people about when strikes would occur, for example.

Well, none of that happened prior to the launch of this attack on Gaza. Trump himself had said he didn’t care whether Netanyahu restarted the war.

And Trump had already called Gaza uninhabitable, talked about the rubble there and said the Palestinians who call it home should no longer be there, even advocating for them to leave so the US can take over.

All of that rhetoric has really planted the US squarely on the side of Israel, even more firmly than the Biden administration.

_{A woman consoles a grieving relative beside the body of a victim killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City on March 18}


Katz orders closure of Rafah crossing for Gaza patients: Israeli media

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has issued instructions to keep the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt closed to patients leaving the enclave for medical treatment abroad, in order to put pressure on Hamas, according to Israeli media.

Dozens of injured and sick Palestinians left Gaza through the crossing since the Hamas-Israel ceasefire came into effect in January, but thousands more need treatment abroad, according to the World Health Organization.

Bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes brought to Gaza City hospitals

Israeli attacks turned evacuation centres into ‘death traps’ yet again

More bodies are being recovered from under the rubble in Gaza City and transferred to al-Ahli Arab Hospital here. But there are still people missing, unable to be identified, and people are still searching for their family members.

Israel’s coordinated air strikes targeted residential buildings, schools and public facilities that had turned into evacuation centres.

Let’s not forget that many Palestinians are still staying in evacuation centres because their homes are either destroyed or located in an area that the Israeli military is still occupying. So, once again, we’re seeing these evacuation centres turn into death traps.

The intensity of the bombing in western Gaza City was so violent that many people killed were thrown out of their buildings – their flesh was collected from the streets and the yards of other homes.

This attack adds yet another layer of tragedy and misery.

_{A child sits amid rubble as Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 18}

Israeli military issues forced displacement threats

In a statement on X, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee has ordered residents of the following areas to “evacuate immediately”, saying their neighbourhoods will become “dangerous combat zones”:

Families says Israeli gov’t ‘chose to give up life’ of captives

The main group representing most of the families of the Israeli captives in Gaza has blamed Netanyahu’s government for “choosing to give up the lives of the hostages” following its renewed attacks in Gaza.

“We are horrified, furious and scared by the intentional shattering of the process of returning our loved ones from the terrible Hamas captivity,” a statement by the group cited by The Times of Israel read.

“The return to fighting before the return of the last hostage will cost us the 59 hostages who are still in Gaza and who can still be saved and returned.”

Global community must force Israel to allow medical supplies into Gaza: Hospitals director

Mohammed Zaqout, the director-general of Gaza hospitals, has called on the international community to intervene and force Israel to allow medical supplies into the enclave. He said the situation inside hospitals is dire.

“Today, the occupation committed several massacres in all areas of the Gaza Strip, with hundreds of martyrs arriving to hospitals across the sector along with hundreds of wounded with severe injuries including fractures, burns and head injuries requiring urgent surgical intervention,” he said.

“Even during the ceasefire, the occupation did not allow the entry of medical equipment, devices and very necessary medical consumables to maintain what remains of the health system and functioning hospitals. The occupation has destroyed more than 22 hospitals, and fewer than seven hospitals are now operating partially,” Zaqout added.

Houthis vow escalation after latest Gaza assault

The Yemeni group has issued a statement denouncing Israel for its “resumption of aggression against the Gaza Strip”.

“The Palestinian people will not be left alone in this battle, and Yemen will continue its support and assistance, and escalate confrontation steps,” said the group’s Supreme Political Council.

The Houthis have come under a wave of US attacks in recent days after threatening to renew attacks on Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea.

Attacks not a negotiation ploy but ‘clear sign Israel is back at war’

Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says he is not convinced by suggestions that Israel’s heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip is some sort of a negotiating tactic.

“I think this is the resumption of war,” he told Al Jazeera, saying that Israel would not need to kill hundreds of Palestinians if it was “simply interested in applying pressure on Hamas”.

He said “Israel has been basically starving the Palestinians” since announcing a complete cutoff to all aid, including essential items, getting into Gaza.

“That’s certainly a war crime but I do think there was a possible interpretation at one point that Israel may be trying to apply pressure on Hamas,” Elmasry said.

“In this particular instance, I don’t think this is about applying pressure on Hamas; I think this is a clear signal that Israel is back to war.”

Trump personally backed Israeli attack on Gaza: Israeli analyst

Israel has claimed that it has not violated any existing agreements with Hamas because the ceasefire ended two weeks ago and accused Hamas of stalling the negotiations, according to Yoni Ben-Menachem, an Israeli journalist and political analyst.

The US, meanwhile, is “fed up” with the lack of progress and President Donald Trump has personally backed the Israeli attack on Gaza, the analyst told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem.

Now-former President Joe Biden and later Trump also had an understanding with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if negotiations “do not go forward as Israel wants” and captives are not released, “then Israel has the right to resume the fire in Gaza”, Ben-Menachem said, adding that the general feeling among Israelis is that they do not want the war to end without the disbanding of Hamas’s military wing.

As we have been reporting, a ceasefire agreement was signed on January 17, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, and with a guarantee from the US. Hamas adhered to all the terms of the agreement in the first phase, while Israel did not adhere to a significant part of it, with more than 1,000 violations.

Israel, with the support of the US, has refused to move to the second phase of the agreement. The US administration presented an initiative through hostage envoy Adam Boehler to release an Israeli-American captive and four bodies. Hamas agreed, provided that the second phase was implemented. Israel rejected Adam Boehler’s proposal. US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff presented an initiative to release half of the living and half of the dead in exchange for 50 days of ceasefire.


Health Ministry says at least 326 killed in Israeli attacks

The Health Ministry in Gaza says the death toll from Israel’s wave of attacks on Gaza stands at 326.

A number of victims are still under the rubble and efforts are under way to retrieve them, it added.

Palestinians flee Israeli attacks on northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoon

UN humanitarian coordinator says Gaza attacks ‘unconscionable’

The United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory has urged for the ceasefire in Gaza to be immediately reinstated.

“Waves of airstrikes occurred across the Gaza Strip since the early hours of the morning … This is unconscionable. A ceasefire must be reinstated immediately,” Muhannad Hadi said in a statement.