Benjamin Netanyahu says airstrikes that killed 400 across Gaza are 'just the beginning' as Israeli PM vows to target Hamas 'with greater intensity'

Benjamin Netanyahu has said Monday night's airstrikes on Gaza, in which at least 413 people died according to Hamas officials, are "just the beginning", despite being called "horrifying" by the UN.

The Hamas-run health ministry said a further 562 people were injured in the attacks, which put an end to a fragile ceasefire between Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, and Israel.

The Israeli prime minister said in a recorded statement aired on Tuesday evening that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had "gone back to fighting with great might" after Hamas failed to release the remaining hostages it is holding following its attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

Mr Netanyahu promised "growing action against Hamas with greater intensity" and reaffirmed his intention to carry on fighting until all hostages are released and Hamas is destroyed.

The IDF has issued evacuation orders for a number of areas in Gaza, after the ceasefire had allowed for hundreds of thousands of displaced people to return to their homes across the enclave.

Many of the dead from the latest strikes were children, according to Palestinian health ministry officials.

The Hamas-run government media office called the attacks a "blatant violation of all international and humanitarian conventions".

In a passionate speech on Tuesday, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, said "we want peace", adding that the choice facing member states was "crystal clear".

He urged the assembly to "act with us to make peace... make war not acceptable... and [for] ceasefire to prevail".

Brett Jonathan Miller, Israel's deputy permanent representative at the UN said a return to fighting was "a necessity".

The UK's ambassador to Israel, Simon Walters, said on X Israel's attacks will neither help defeat Hamas nor bring hostages home and will only cause "more death".

Read more:
What happened to the ceasefire?

There are 59 Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas - 24 of whom are still believed to be alive.

For their release, Hamas wanted the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and an end to hostilities as part of the second phase of the deal.

Hamas, the militant group running Gaza and whose massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel 15 months ago sparked Israel's powerful bombing of the enclave, has claimed it is "working with mediators to curb the aggression" seen on Tuesday.

'Tragedy onto tragedy'

More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory campaign since October 2023, Gazan health officials say.

UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said: "I am horrified by last night's Israeli airstrikes and shelling in Gaza.

"This will add tragedy onto tragedy."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News the Trump administration was consulted by Israel about the airstrikes.

'Extensive' strikes

The IDF and Shin Bet said the "extensive" strikes were aimed at "terror targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip".

Last week, the Gaza health ministry said nine Palestinians, including three journalists, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the northern town of Beit Lahia.

A Palestinian source who lives in central Gaza told Sky News' US correspondent Mark Stone "we were sure that this war wouldn't end" and added: "I wish they (Israel) would open the Rafah border crossing (into Egypt). I wish to leave. I cannot take it anymore."

It comes almost two months after a three-phase ceasefire deal was agreed by Hamas and Israel to pause the war.

Over the six-week first phase, Hamas released 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza and five Thai nationals, in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

But since the first phase officially concluded, both Israel and Hamas have failed to agree on how to progress with the second phase - which would see the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.

'A death sentence'

Izzat al-Risheq, a senior Hamas official, said Mr Netanyahu's decision to return to war amounts to a "death sentence" for the remaining hostages.

Mr Netanyahu faces mounting pressure at home over his handling of the hostage crisis.

Furthermore, his latest appearance at a long-running corruption trial was cancelled after the strikes, which resumed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

US Middle East envoy Mr Witkoff had proposed extending the first phase of the ceasefire through to the end of Ramadan and Passover or until 20 April, which Hamas rejected.

At the start of March, Israel said it stopped all goods and supplies to Gaza after claiming Hamas was refusing to "accept the Witkoff outline for continuing the talks, which Israel agreed to".

Five days later, Israel said it had cut off the electricity supply to Gaza.

(c) Sky News 2025: Benjamin Netanyahu says airstrikes that killed 400 across Gaza are 'just the beginning' as I