A doctor working at a Gaza hospital said she had difficulty describing the "level of horror" she witnessed following renewed Israeli airstrikes in the enclave, which have so far killed over 400 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Dr. Tanya Haj Hassan, a volunteer with Medical Aid for Palestinians, said most of the victims were women, children and elderly people.
"There were probably three men, and the rest were all children, women, elderly, everybody caught in their sleep, still wrapped in blankets. Terrifying," she added.
Israel resumed attacks on Tuesday with an intense barrage, with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it made the decision after the first phase of the ceasefire failed to move forward to a second one, which would have negotiated the end of the war. However, Netanyahu's coalition has held off negotiations even though the first phase required they start on its 16th day.
Netanyahu was facing the possibility that his coalition would collapse in that scenario, given the fact that its right-wing coalition warned it would leave the government if Israel negotiated an end to the war. Another right-wing faction of his government, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, returned to the coalition after the resumption of the war.
Farhan Haq, spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the UN Secretary General was "shocked by the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, in which a meaningful number of civilians have been killed." Several Middle Eastern countries have also criticized the actions. The Trump administration has not addressed the matter, but reports detailed that it was briefed before the Israeli strikes.
Turkey, on its end, said the attacks were a new phase in "genocide," with the Foreign ministry calling on the international community to take a "decisive stance" to ensure a permanent ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid in the enclave.
White House National Security Council Spokesman Brian Hughes reacted to the attack, placing the blame on Hamas and telling Axios that the group "could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war."
The families of Israeli hostages decried the attacks, saying that resuming the war could be a death sentence for their loved ones. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum criticized the decision by the Benjamin Netanyahu government to "sacrifice the 59 captives" in Gaza (including those presumed dead) and called for urgent protests outside his office in Jerusalem.
"Military pressure will lead to the killing of living hostages and the disappearance of the fallen," the forum added. "We are horrified, furious and scared by the intentional shattering of the process of returning our loved ones from the terrible Hamas captivity." Netanyahu, in turn, said the attacks seek the "release of all our hostages."
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