Israel Resumes Ground Operation In Gaza Day After Airstrikes Killed 400 Palestinians

<p data-pm-slice=”0 0 []”>The Israeli military on Wednesday said that its forces have resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip, as a second day of airstrikes killed at least 20 Palestinians, reports Reuters, quoting local health workers. The renewed ground operation comes a day after more than 400 Palestinians were killed in the airstrikes in one of the deadliest episodes since the beginning of the conflict, shattering a ceasefire that has largely held since January.</p>
<p>According to Reuters, the Israeli military said that its operations have extended Israel’s control over the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza, and were a “focused” manoeuvre aimed at creating a partial buffer zone between the north and the south of the enclave.</p>
<p>The United Nations said that an Israeli airstrike had killed a foreign staffer and wounded five workers at the site of a UN headquarters in central Gaza City on Wednesday. But Israel denied it and said that it had hit a Hamas site, where it had detected the preparations for firing into Israeli territory.</p>
<p>The executive director of the UN office for Project Services, Jorge Moreira da Silva, said: “Israel knew that this was a U.N. premises, that people were living, staying and working there, it is a compound. It is a very well-known place.”</p>
<p>Israel, which has vowed to eradicate Hamas, said that its latest onslaught was “just the beginning”.</p>
<p>Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of breaching the truce, which had offered a respite for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war that reduced the enclave to rubble and also forced most of its population to evacuate several times.</p>
<p>The Israeli campaign has killed over 49,000 people in Gaza, reports Reuters, quoting Palestinian health authorities, and has caused a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food, fuel, and water.</p>