'Only the beginning': hundreds die as Israel shatters Gaza truce

Netanyahu defiant after bloodiest day since first months of conflict

- Jason Burke Jerusalem Malak A Tantesh Gaza City

The wave of deadly airstrikes that shattered the pause in hostilities in Gaza was "only the beginning", Benjamin Netanyahu warned yesterday as he promised that the new offensive would continue until Israel had achieved all of its war aims: destroying Hamas and freeing all hostages held by the militant group.

Any further ceasefire negotiations would take place "under fire", the Israeli prime minister said in a televised address last night, his first after Israel launched attacks that killed more than 400 people in the devastated Palestinian territory, in the bloodiest single day of violence since the first months of the war in 2023.

"Hamas has already felt the strength of our hand in the past 24 hours," Netanyahu told viewers. "And I want to promise you - and them - this is only the beginning."

Earlier, Israel's defence minister raised the prospect of many weeks or even months of war in Gaza.

"Hamas must understand that the rules of the game have changed," Israel Katz told reporters during a visit to an airbase, adding that "the gates of hell will open and it will face the full might of the IDF in the air, at sea and on land" if hostages were not freed by Hamas.

The Israeli army has issued evacuation orders covering the northernmost and eastern parts of Gaza, suggesting renewed ground attacks could be launched soon.

Palestinian health authorities reported 404 deaths in the strikes, which Israeli military officials said had targeted Hamas military commanders and political officials.

More than 600 were reported injured. Air attacks and artillery fire were reported to be continuing across much of Gaza during the afternoon and into the evening.

Aid officials in Gaza said hundreds, possibly thousands, were already on the move to comply with the Israeli evacuation orders. "There is no resilience. People... are in a very weak state, physically and psychologically," one aid official in Gaza told the Guardian.