Gaza
\nAt least 85 Palestinians have been killed in overnight Israeli air strikes in Gaza, the territory\u2019s Hamas-run health ministry has said.
\nHours later, Israel\u2019s military said it had intercepted three rockets, which Hamas\u2019s armed wing said it fired at Tel Aviv in response.
\nIt comes after Israel resumed its bombing campaign and ground operations in Gaza this week, with air strikes having already killed more than 430 people over the past two days, according to the health ministry.
\nThe Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Thursday that it had started a ground operation in northern Gaza. There had been a reprieve from large-scale military action since January, when a ceasefire had begun.
\nGaza\u2019s health ministry also reported that 133 people were injured in the latest attacks on Thursday.
\nIsrael resumed attacks on Tuesday as talks to extend the ceasefire deal failed to progress, warning they would intensify until Hamas released the remaining hostages.
\nIsrael says Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to still be alive.
\nIDF spokesperson Col Avichay Adraee said Hamas had fired three rockets from southern Gaza. One was intercepted, while the other two fell in an \u201copen area\u201d, he wrote in a post on X.
\nThe Israeli military said earlier on Thursday that it had begun \u201ctargeted ground activities\u201d to create what it called a \u201cpartial buffer between the north and south\u201d of Gaza. It called the action a \u201climited ground operation\u201d.
\nCol Adraee said forces were deployed up to the centre of a strip, known as the Netzarim Corridor, which divides northern and southern Gaza.
\nMeanwhile, five staff members of the UN\u2019s Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa were among those killed over the \u201cpast few days\u201d, the agency\u2019s chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X.
\n\u201cThey were teachers, doctors and nurses,\u201d he added, warning that \u201cthe worst is yet to come\u201d amid the ongoing ground invasion.
\nOn Wednesday, the UN said that one of its workers had been killed after its compound in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza was damaged. While it said the circumstances remain unclear, UN Office for Project Services head Jorge Moreira said it was \u201cnot an accident\u201d and \u201cat least an incident\u201d.
\nGaza\u2019s health ministry blamed an Israeli strike, which it said injured five others. Israel\u2019s military said it did not attack the compound but was investigating the incident.
\nUK Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed on Thursday that a UK national had been wounded in the compound attack. It comes after a charity said one of its workers, a 51-year-old British bomb disposal expert, had been injured.
\n\u201cOur priority is supporting them and their family at this time,\u201d he told MPs.
\nAt the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Qasim Abu Sharqiya said his two-year-old son, Omar, had been born through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) after five years of trying.
\n\u201cThey bombed a tent next to us and he died,\u201d he told AFP. \u201cOmar is my only son, oh world, and I have no one else.\u201d
\nA doctor there, Tanya Haj Hassan, told the BBC\u2019s Newshour that she had heard of at least 76 people who \u201cdidn\u2019t even make it into the ER\u201d but were taken \u201cstraight to the mortuary\u201d.
\nShe recalled \u201ca level of horror and evil that is really hard to articulate – it felt like Armageddon\u201d.
\nElsewhere, Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at Israel on Thursday, aiming for Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the Iran-backed group\u2019s military spokesperson said.
\nNo injuries were reported and the IDF said the missile was stopped before entering Israel.
\nIsrael\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that it had \u201cresumed combat in full force\u201d and any ceasefire negotiations would now take place \u201cunder fire\u201d.
\nA group representing hostages\u2019 families has accused the Israeli government of choosing \u201cto give up the hostages\u201d by launching new strikes.
\nIsrael and Hamas have failed to agree how to take the ceasefire beyond the first phase, which expired on 1 March.
\nHamas did not agree to a renegotiation of the ceasefire on Israel\u2019s terms, although it offered to release a living American hostage and four hostages\u2019 bodies as mediators tried to prolong the ceasefire.
\nIsrael blocked all food, fuel and medical supplies entering Gaza at the beginning of March in order to put pressure on Hamas. It accused Hamas of commandeering the provisions as part of its strategy against Israel, though did not provide evidence for this claim.
\nThe war was triggered by Hamas\u2019s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed and 251 other taken hostage. Twenty-five Israeli and five Thai hostages were released alive during the first phase of the ceasefire.
\nIsrael responded to the 7 October attack with a massive military offensive, which had killed more than 48,500 Palestinians, mainly civilians, before Israel resumed its campaign, the Hamas-run health ministry says. Israel\u2019s offensive has also caused huge amounts of destruction to homes and infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gaza At least 85 Palestinians have been killed in overnight Israeli air strikes in Gaza, the territory\u2019s Hamas-run health ministry has said. Hours later, Israel\u2019s military said it had intercepted three rockets, which Hamas\u2019s armed wing said it fired at Tel Aviv in response. It comes after Israel resumed its bombing campaign and ground operations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-468188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n