Israel’s latest airstrikes in Gaza have killed at least 413 people, the Hamas-run health ministry has said, as the UN’s human rights chief branded the violence as “horrifying”.

A further 562 people were injured in the airstrikes, which put an end to a fragile ceasefire between Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, and Israel as they resumed overnight.

A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said: “From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force”.

Evacuation orders have been issued by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) 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.

The IDF said on X people should leave the neighbourhoods of Beit Hanoun, Khuza’a, Abasan al-Kabira and al-Jadida and head to shelters in Gaza City and Khan Younis.

That’s despite Gaza City and Khan Younis being among the areas where airstrikes were reported.

Northern Gaza, the Deir al-Balah and Rafah also came under attack.

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 statement, the Israeli PM’s office said Mr Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF to “act forcefully” against Hamas.

It came after the militant group “repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the US presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators”.

“The operational plan was presented late last week by the IDF and approved by the political echelon,” the statement added.

In a passionate speech on Tuesday, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour, said “we want peace”, adding that the choice facing the world 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 reaffirmed their commitment to defeating Hamas and bringing home “every last hostage”.

He said a return to fighting was “a necessity” because the militant group had failed to release those being held and “repeatedly rejected all offers made by the US and the mediating countries”.

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 on 7 October 2023 sparked Israel’s powerful bombing of the enclave, has claimed it is “working with mediators to curb the aggression” seen on Tuesday.

“Hamas adhered to the ceasefire agreement and implemented it precisely, but the Israeli occupation reneged on its commitment and reversed it by resuming aggression and war,” an official said.

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

The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to convene later on Tuesday for a briefing on Gaza.

UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said: “I am horrified by last night’s Israeli airstrikes and shelling in Gaza, which killed hundreds, according to the Ministry of Health in the strip.

“This will add tragedy onto tragedy.”

‘Unilaterally ending the ceasefire’

According to the Reuters news agency, a senior Hamas official said Israel was unilaterally ending the ceasefire agreement.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Fox News interview that the Trump administration was consulted by Israel about the airstrikes on Monday.

‘Not a surprise’

The IDF and Shin Bet described the strikes as “extensive” – and said they were against “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 that the strikes were “not a surprise”, saying: “I guess the strongest ones can do whatever they want.”

The source then said “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 was reached by Hamas and Israel to pause the war.

Over the first phase of the ceasefire, which lasted six weeks, 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.

‘We are shocked’

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.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum hit out at the Israeli government’s decision to resume airstrikes in Gaza and accused it of backing out of the ceasefire, saying it “chose to give up on the hostages”.

“We are shocked, angry and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas,” the group said in a statement.

Mr Netanyahu’s decision to launch fresh airstrikes on the besieged enclave of Gaza comes as he faces mounting pressure at home over his handling of the hostage crisis.

Furthermore, his latest testimony in 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”.

Hamas called it “a war crime and a blatant attack”.

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

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seemingly came to an end overnight after Israel launched dozens of air strikes on targets across Gaza.

Palestinian authorities have said more than 400 people are either dead or missing.

The ceasefire agreed back in mid-January had paused fighting after 15 months of war. It also saw both sides agree to the release of Israeli hostages taken during the 7 October attacks back in 2023, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

So what is left of the ceasefire now, and why did Israel choose to strike Hamas?

Gaza strikes latest: Follow live updates

What did the agreed ceasefire look like?

The three-stage deal, brokered by mediators the US, Qatar and Egypt, came into effect on 19 January.

During the first phase, Hamas returned 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli forces also withdrew to buffer zones inside Gaza, and hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians returned to northern Gaza. No further hostage releases were called for under the agreement until the second phase.

Negotiations over this second phase of the deal were meant to begin on the 16th day of phase one – 4 February – and were supposed to lead to a permanent ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of all remaining hostages.

According to the deal, a third phase would include the return of the bodies of dead hostages and the beginning of Gaza’s reconstruction, a mammoth task that will be supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the UN.

It had little detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that the ceasefire agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.

Read more:
The competing plans for rebuilding Gaza after the war

What has actually happened?

The first phase of the ceasefire deal officially ended two weeks ago. Israel has since cut off all food, medicine, fuel, electricity and other supplies to Gaza’s population of around two million people, to pressure Hamas to accept a new proposal ahead of a second phase of ceasefire.

The move was widely criticised, with Hamas accusing Israel of trying to cause famine in Gaza, and the head of the UN Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA) warning the territory will experience another hunger crisis if Israel continues to withhold aid.

Israel’s new proposal would require Hamas to release half its remaining hostages – the militant group’s main bargaining chip – in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.

It is named the “Witkoff plan”, after US Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff proposed it last week.

Mr Witkoff also demanded the release of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander and the bodies of four hostages who died in captivity.

The proposal made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was Hamas’s refusal of this proposal that led to him ordering the strikes on Tuesday.

Unless mediators now step in, Israel’s attack on Gaza could mean a full return to fighting.

Could a new ceasefire be agreed?

Last week, Israel sent a delegation to the Qatari capital, Doha, for more ceasefire talks, and Hamas leaders attended a round of talks in Cairo, but there has been no sign of a breakthrough.

Reacting to the latest strikes, Egypt’s foreign ministry called for all parties to “exercise restraint” and to give mediators space to “complete their efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire”.

Hamas claimed it is “working with mediators to curb the aggression”, adding that it is keen to implement a ceasefire deal.

Meanwhile, a statement from the office of Mr Netanyahu said Israel would act against Hamas with “increasing military strength”. It accused Hamas of repeatedly refusing to release hostages.

The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has also issued evacuation orders for a number of areas in Gaza – after the ceasefire agreement allowed hundreds of thousands of people to return to their homes across the region.

The order tells people to leave the neighbourhoods of Beit Hanoun, Khuza’a, Abasan al-Kabira and al-Jadida and head to shelters in Gaza City and Khan Younis.

Sky News Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall said the order may indicate that an Israeli land force is preparing to enter the area.

“If you’re going to have a major ground offensive, and if it could from all angles, I think they would look to force Gazan civilians into humanitarian zones,” he said.

“That would give the IDF some freedom of operation, freedom of movement, in open areas.”

Thousands are demanding justice for 59 people killed in a nightclub fire in North Macedonia, as authorities prepare graves for its victims.

More than 150 were also injured after pyrotechnics sparked a fire at Club Pulse in Kocani, with government officials and the nightclub’s manager among 20 people arrested.

But some protests turned violent in the eastern town and in the capital Skopje, where thousands have called for more action amid a litany of alleged safety failures.

As excavators dug a fresh line of graves in the town of 25,000 people, 16-year-old Jovan, who lost a friend in the fire, described his country as “corrupt”.

“I want everyone who helped this place carry on with its business to be jailed,” he said, speaking from a quiet protest in Kocani’s central square.

Some held placards reading “we are not dying from accidents; we are dying from corruption” and “everything is legal here if you have connections”.

A van was overturned there, while others threw rocks at a local government building.

Investigations have so far revealed that the club was operating at double its 250-person capacity, without proper licensing.

Many were trampled as they rushed toward a single exit.

There were numerous safety violations, according to officials, including:

• no emergency exits;
• insufficient fire equipment;
• the use of flammable cladding and no sprinkler system.

Read more:
Windows smashed in nightclub owner’s pub
What we know so far about North Macedonia fire

The EU has previously identified corruption as an obstacle to the country’s accession to the bloc.

Authorities are also investigating allegations club owners bribed officials to bypass safety regulations.

Nationwide inspections of all nightclubs and entertainment venues have been ordered by the government.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said the club’s licence was issued illegally by the economy ministry, vowing to bring those responsible to justice.