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LAST UPDATE | 20 Mar
SPEAKING IN BRUSSELS this morning, Taoiseach Michéal Martin has criticised statements made by Israel’s minister for defence as the bombing of Gaza continues.
He described the comments from Israel Katz as “quite shocking” after he warned that Hamas’ continued rule in Gaza would lead to its “total destruction and ruin”.
The Taoiseach said the comments “seem to me to amount to the collective punishment of Palestinians within Gaza.
Martin said, “Europe needs to say stop to the killing and the slaughter in Gaza”.
Israel continued to bombard Gaza this morning after issuing what it called a”last warning” for Palestinians to return hostages and remove Hamas from power – or face “total devastation” by Israeli troops and air strikes.
Israeli strikes overnight and into today struck several homes and killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, according to three hospitals.
The strikes hit houses in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza and the northern town of Beit Lahiya, they said.
As Israel defied calls from foreign governments to preserve the ceasefire, Gazans were left to once again comb through rubble to find the bodies of their loved ones.
“We’re digging with our bare hands,” said a man trying to dislodge a child’s body from a heap of concrete in Gaza City.
After Israel urged civilians to leave areas it described as “combat zones”, families with young children filled the roads leading out of northern Gaza.
The European Hospital in the southern city of Rafah said 26 people, mostly women and children, were killed in strikes on two family homes overnight. One of the strikes killed a father and his seven children, it said.
Heavy air strikes began strafing Gaza early Tuesday, killing more than 400 people, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The renewed offensive shattered a relative calm that had pervaded since a truce took hold mid-January.
Gaza rescuers said at least 10 more people were killed in a pre-dawn bombing near Khan Yunis yesterday.
The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received the bodies of seven people killed overnight in an attack on a home. In northern Gaza, the Indonesian Hospital said it had received the bodies of seven people killed in a strike on a home in Beit Lahiya, a town near the border.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the latest strikes. The military says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it is deeply embedded in residential areas.
The Israeli military earlier said air raid sirens sounded in several areas of the country following a missile attack from Yemen.
In Jerusalem, several explosions were heard shortly after the sirens sounded early on Thursday. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Yesterday, the Israeli military announced it had resumed ground operations “in the central and southern Gaza Strip to expand the security perimeter and create a partial buffer between the north and south”.
Addressing the “residents of Gaza” – governed by Hamas since 2007 – Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a video: “This is the last warning.”
“Take the advice of the president of the United States. Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you — including the possibility of leaving for other places in the world for those who want to.”
This is a message to the residents of Gaza: The first Sinwar destroyed Gaza, and the second Sinwar will bring its complete ruin. Soon, the evacuation of the population from combat zones will resume, and what follows will be far more severe—you will pay the full price. Return the… pic.twitter.com/zkLCwXHX43
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) March 19, 2025
He was referring to a warning earlier this month by US President Donald Trump, who said: “To the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!”
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, 58 are still held by Gaza militants, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas says it is willing to negotiate and has called on the international community to act to bring the war to an end.
An official from the group rejected, however, Israeli demands to renegotiate the three-stage deal agreed with Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators.
“Hamas has not closed the door on negotiations but we insist there is no need for new agreements,” Taher al-Nunu told AFP.
Talks have stalled over how to proceed with the ceasefire, after the first phase expired in early March.
Israel and the United States have sought to change the terms of the deal by extending phase one.
Hamas wants negotiations for phase two, meant to establish a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza while the remaining hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
“Moving to the second phase seems to be a non-option for Israel,” said Ghassan Khatib, a political analyst and former Palestinian Authority minister.
“They don’t like the second phase because it involves ending the war without necessarily achieving their objective of ending Hamas.”
With reporting from Jane Matthews, PA and AFP
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