At least 45 people were killed by airstrikes across the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday as Israel's resumption of its ground and air offensive left a trail of destruction observed by an NBC News team on the ground.
More than 30 of those killed in the strikes by the Israel Defense Forces were brought to the city's European Hospital, while 13 were taken to Nasser Hospital, officials there told NBC News. One family had 12 members killed, including several children.
The strikes hit multiple homes in the middle of the night, with children killed as they slept, The Associated Press reported.
Sirens that had become increasingly rare during the ceasefire rang out in a number of areas in central Israel on Thursday, after projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip, the IDF said. NBC News' team in central Israel reporting heard blasts around the same time.
In the hours before the strikes, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz suggested that civilians in the enclave would "pay the full price" if hostages who remain held by Hamas were not returned.
“Return the hostages and eliminate Hamas — the alternative is complete destruction and annihilation,” he said Wednesday in an address to Palestinians in Gaza as the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for areas it said were "battle zones."
Hamas said in a statement late Wednesday that Israel’s ground offensive constituted a “new and dangerous violation of the signed ceasefire agreement.”
Thursday's strikes came after the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that more than 400 people had been killed overnight Tuesday when Israel resumed strikes across the enclave, breaking the fragile ceasefire after two months of relative calm.
Both Israel and the United States have blamed Hamas for the renewed fighting, accusing the militant group of rejecting a proposal to extend the first phase of the current ceasefire agreement, even though that was not part of the original deal.
At least 59 hostages, both dead and alive, are thought to remain in Gaza out of around 250 who were taken captive during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed, according to Israel.
Nearly 49,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave, according to local health officials, whose figures the World Health Organization has said in the past are reputable.
The resumption of war has already brought renewed devastation to the Gaza Strip, with babies and pregnant mothers among those killed in Israeli strikes on the tent camps where they had sought shelter.
Among those killed was Afnan Fouad Al-Ghannam, 20, who was 7 months pregnant, and her 1-year-old son, Mohammad, when their shelter in the Muwasi tent camp was hit. While Muwasi has long been designated a humanitarian zone, it has been struck on multiple occasions during the war.
The boy's father could be seen cradling his son, wrapped in a bloodied white shroud, in video captured by NBC News' crew on the ground Wednesday.
“I would give my life for you,” Alaa Abu Hilal said, holding Mohammed in his arms.
"Your separation hurts me," the father told his son. "Take care of your mother."
Israel's military sent ground troops back into Gaza on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the IDF said, a fresh escalation in its renewed attack on Gaza.
The military said that its “targeted ground operation” was focused on the central and southern Gaza Strip and that ground troops had retaken about half of the Netzarim corridor — the Israeli-built roadway that bisects Gaza and has been used to cut off traffic between its north and south.
While this week's strikes have shattered what had often appeared to be a fragile ceasefire, Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanou said Thursday in a statement that talks with mediators were ongoing.
He added that he hoped negotiators would push Israel to "back down from its plan" and abide by the ceasefire deal agreed in January.
